Sick and Tired
by sisana
Summary: Inuyasha has finally realized that he loved Kagome. He is willing to tell her his feelings but some unexpected things prevent him from doing so. One of them is a new rival he has to deal with in order to win Kagome. R & R, please!
1. Chapter One

"Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed.

The girl looked at his frightened eyes not knowing why he was shouting. Suddenly something hit her back and she fell on her knees. When she turned to see what had hit her she saw Miroku open his Kazaana and suck in several demons.

'Thank God...' Inuyasha sighed in relief.

"Inuyasha, watch out!" Kagome screamed and he met her scared eyes.

He immediately turned around and barely avoided being stabbed by a scorpion demon's tail. Inuyasha growled and jumped toward the last remaining demon, finishing him off with a Kaze no Kizu.

Kagome held her hands on her chest breathing hard. 'Thank God, I thought I was going to loose him.' she thought still trying to catch her breath.

Inuyasha turned toward his friends and looked around. Just fifteen minutes ago the clearing they were was covered with flowers. Even he thought it was beautiful and was enjoying the nice scent of the flowers mixed with Kagome's. Now that clearing was covered with dead demon bodies. Blood was every where. The sun was setting and the descending night was making everything look scary even for Inuyasha. He wanted to get away as fast as he could.

"Kagome, are you ok?" he went to her.

"Y-yes..." she said a little surprised from the concern in his voice.

Now that she was alright Inuyasha thought it was ok to yell at her for being slow and clumsy and not paying attention to the fight. He opened his mouth but suddenly found it difficult to say anything at all.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome had been prepared for the yelling but seeing Inuyasha only open his mouth and say nothing worried her.

He stood there and watched her. 'God, she's beautiful...' he couldn't manage to hold this thought.

"Inuyasha, are you alright?" Kagome reached one hand to touch his cheek.

He backed away startled, his whole face red.

"Feh!" he made a step back. "Of course I'm alright!"

'Oh, well... Here it comes...' Kagome sighed.

"I'm not you!" Inuyasha started walking away but continued talking. "I don't sit and watch the demon coming to kill me and not do anything..."

"You sure you're ok, Kagome?" Shippo came to her.

"Yes, Shippo-chan." she smiled at him and then looked at Miroku and Sango who were standing few meters away.

"I'm surprised you didn't sit him, Kagome-sama." Miroku said coming to her and helping her stand up.

"I thought it was going to be a BIG sit!" Sango laughed.

"So that's why you were staying away!" Kagome smiled.

"Can you blame us?" Miroku smiled too.

"No. But Inuyasha was acting strange, don't you think?" Kagome asked looking at the direction the hanyou had gone.

"That's true." Miroku said.

"I wonder what's wrong this time." Sango said and the group walked after the hanyou.

They walked for a while and reached another clearing. Inuyasha was standing there waiting for them. "We should make a camp here." he said and jumped up to a tree.

The others sighed and everybody started doing something to set the camp – Sango and Kagome prepared the fire pit and Miroku and Shippo went to gather firewood.

Some time during the night Inuyasha caught himself staring at Kagome. 'What am I doing, damn it!' he thought. 'She's just the stupid girl Kagome. Nothing more... But she's beautiful...'

Kagome heard a deep sigh and opened one eye. She looked at Inuyasha – he was sitting on the other side of the fire, watching her. She quickly shut her eye waiting for him to jump away or to shout but he didn't even move. Only another sigh was heard. Kagome opened both her eyes to look at him better. He was sitting cross-legged supporting his head with his hands. His eyes were sort of dazed and she frowned.

'Kikyou...' Kagome thought.

"Inuyasha..." she started.

The hanyou startled and raised his head. Kagome's anger turned to confusion as his cheeks became the color of his clothes and he jumped up a tree. 'Shit! She was awake!' Inuyasha thought angry and looked at her confused face.

'I don't understand him anymore... Oh, well... I'd better go to sleep.' Kagome thought and laid down on her sleeping bag.

'What is wrong with me?!' Inuyasha growled in frustration.

On the next morning nobody could find Inuyasha and with a lot of convincing Miroku, Sango and Shippo made Kagome leave the camp without waiting for his return.

"He's going to be mad for leaving him behind." Kagome said and involuntary shivered.

"Don't worry, Kagome-chan." Sango smiled. "It will be nice to have him angry again."

"Yes, I'm beginning to worry about his behavior." Miroku said.

The group was at Kaede's village just when the sun was setting.

"Oh, I didn't expect you so soon." Kaede smiled when they approached the hut.

"We ran out of provisions." Kagome said.

"Well, come on in." the old Miko motioned to them to enter and they did.

"Kaede-sama, has Inuyasha come here today?" Miroku asked.

"No." she answered. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no..." Miroku was just going to continue when Inuyasha entered the hut.

Kagome, Sango and Shippo shut their eyes waiting for the hanyou to start shouting but he just growled and pulled Miroku outside. "Come with me." he said.

Miroku gulped and looked at his friends with pleading eyes. 'Help me!'

Inuyasha dragged the monk to the forest and released him. In the dark of the night only the hanyou's golden eyes could be seen and Miroku thought this was his end. Then to his surprise Inuyasha sat on the ground with his legs and arms crossed.

"I want to talk to you." the hanyou said.

Miroku almost fell but managed to hold his composure. He sat on the ground and looked at Inuyasha. "Well, I'm listening." the monk said.

"I think I'm falling in love with Kagome." Inuyasha stated.

"Wha???" Miroku thought his mouth was going to fall on the ground.

"I think..." Inuyasha started.

"I heard what you said! And you...you say it just like that?!" the monk leaned closer. "Are you really Inuyasha?"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" the hanyou growled.

"It's you alright." Miroku sighed in relief. "So, you think you're falling in love with Kagome..." he said after a while and looked at his friend.

"Yes." Inuyasha said firmly which confused Miroku a little.

"And what makes you think that?" the monk asked.

Silence...

"Inuyasha?" Miroku leaned closer.

"Ok, alright!" the hanyou barked out and then continued a little hesitantly. "I... Well, I..." he swallowed hard and prepared to continue but didn't say anything.

"Yes?" Miroku reminded him that he was there after all.

"I... Um... I like her scent... I think she's beautiful... I feel good with her... She makes me smile... My head starts spinning when she's too near, if you know what I mean..." at this last statement Inuyasha's cheeks reddened a little and the monk nodded with a small mischievous smile on his lips. "I'm scared to death when something bad happens to her..." the hanyou's words trailed off and he looked at the ground.

"Well, my friend, I'm going to ask you only one question." Miroku said.

"What is it?" Inuyasha lifted his head.

"Didn't you have those same thoughts and feeling before?" the monk asked.

The hanyou's eyes widened in realization.

"I think you're already in love with Kagome-sama, Inuyasha. You're just now beginning to realize it." with that Miroku stood up, dusted himself off and turned to walk back to the hut.

"Wait!" Inuyasha yelled after him. "What am I going to do?!"

"You should tell her." the monk shrugged.

"Easy for you to say." the hanyou grumbled and jumped deep in the forest.

Miroku sighed and headed toward the hut.

"Miroku, you're still alive!" Shippo giggled.

"Very funny, Shippo." the monk frowned. "For a moment I really thought it was the end for me."

"Anyway, Miroku-sama, what did Inuyasha want?" Kagome asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just yelled a little about leaving him behind and then ran away." Miroku explained.

"Well, why didn't he yell here?" Sango asked.

The monk shrugged and sat down by the fire. He knew he wasn't going to get away only with that but he still hoped that Inuyasha would return before the girls had interrogated him.

TBC


	2. Chapter Two

Miroku, Sango and Shippo were in Kaede's hut. Their ears still hurt from Inuyasha's sudden outburst when he had returned after his talk with the monk. When he had entered the hut and had sat by the fire Miroku, as the good friend he is, tried to help the hanyou in getting closer with Kagome. Everything resulted in Inuyasha having a 'fit' of jealousy because of Miroku's attempt to grope Kagome, a loud and painful sit because of Inuyasha's 'concern' and possessiveness, then a big fight with Kagome with a few more sits. Now the hanyou and the girl were out, who knows where...

Actually Inuyasha was by the river, trying to calm himself, and Kagome had gone to her time for provisions. Before she had jumped in the well she had screamed the she was going to come back in the morning. Of course Inuyasha had heard her and that startled him. Now he wasn't only washing his face – he had fallen in the water.

The next morning, when Kagome returned to the past, she decided that she didn't want to see the others just yet. She was still angry with Inuyasha and was sure that he was too. So, she went to the clearing where the God tree was and sat under a tree across it. She closed her eyes and prayed for a nice and peaceful day, if that was actually possible...

"I love it here." Kagome sighed and looked at the old tree in front of her, remembering the first time she saw Inuyasha – she had pulled his ears to see if they were real. "Good that he was asleep..." she chuckled. Closing her eyes again she imagined something she whished had really happened. "If I knew that I was going to fall in love with him..." the girl sighed deeply. "Oh, I should've kissed him then."

Kagome stayed under the tree for a while, thinking over and over again about Inuyasha, Kikyou, Naraku and her. It was a cursed circle and she decided to stop thinking about it anymore today, otherwise she was sure she was going to cry all day. She opened her eyes and looked at the sun. 'It's lunch time already?' thinking about food Kagome involuntary flinched.

"Oh, God, I'm starting to think like Inuyasha!" she frowned. Suddenly she heard a strange noise. It was like growling and it was getting closer. Kagome lowered her head and whimpered – she knew that it was Inuyasha and she was definitely going to have another fight with him for being late.

Soon enough a frustrated hanyou came to the clearing from behind Kagome. He didn't seem to notice her. In fact he was too busy trying to take off his haori or rather trying to tear it off of him.

"Fuck you to hell!" Inuyasha shouted, finally removing the haori and throwing it toward the God tree. In the process he hit Tetsusaiga's hilt and that seemed to enrage him even more. "Get away from me!" he took the sword and threw it to his haori.

By that time Kagome had stopped trying not to laugh and had become really worried. "Inuyasha?" she said and lifted herself a little. Hearing her voice the hanyou stiffened and his growls immediately stopped. "Inuyasha, are you ok?" Kagome asked standing up.

He slowly turned to face her and she almost fell – that was the heaviest blush she had seen on him. "I-I..." he stammered.

Kagome waited for him to continue but he just stood there. 'Oh, no, here it comes...' she thought when she saw his brow twitch a little. No sooner she had closed her eyes, preparing for the yelling, Inuyasha simply exploded.

"No, I'm not ok, damn it! Why the hell is so hot? And that fucking sword is always in the way!" Inuyasha pointed Tetsusaiga and continued shouting. "And Sango is in the river! And you!"

"Inuyasha, calm down." Kagome approached him when he stopped yelling to catch his breath. Then it hit her and she frowned. "What about me?"

"What about you?" Inuyasha shouted and made a step toward her. "What about you?"

Kagome gulped and backed away. Fear was starting to rise in her – she had never seen him like this before. He sure yelled a lot at her but not this way – it usually was quite obvious that he didn't mean it, and now this was pure rage.

"Y-Yes..." the frightened girl stammered out her answer.

"I'll tell you 'what about you'!" as he approached she continued backing away.

Kagome stopped as her back touched the tree she had been sitting under just minutes ago. She looked around for a way to escape but just then Inuyasha hit the tree trunk at the right side of her head. She shut her eyes and waited for whatever was going to happen. Kagome didn't wait long and felt Inuyasha's breath on her lips. She opened her eyes and then the hanyou made a few steps away from her and jumped deep in the forest.

Kagome breathed hard, not knowing what to think. She slid on the ground and stood there for a few minutes. She didn't know if she should be afraid or angry, but felt a mix of both. After she calmed down she stood up and went to take Inuyasha's sword and haori. She then took her bag and headed toward the hut.

"Kagome-chan?" Sango looked at her a little confused, seeing Inuyasha's haori and sword.

"Kagome-sama, what have you and Inuyasha..." Miroku was interrupted by a flying bowl, which hit him in the face.

"Houshi-sama, shut up." Sango frowned and then turned to Kagome. "Kagome-chan, what... I mean did something..."

"That idiot!" the girl shouted and everybody stiffened by her sudden outburst. "He didn't have to shout at me like that! I was just worried!"

"Calm down, child." Kaede said. "Tell us what happened."

"Well, he was so annoyed of something that he just needed to shout at somebody! And that somebody was me!" Kagome threw the haori and sword on the floor and sat down with a loud thud.

Inuyasha was gone during the rest of the day. It was already nearing sunset and the others were sitting in the hut. Nobody dared to talk, afraid that Kagome would start shouting again something about Inuyasha. She had done that at least five times this afternoon. So, they were just sitting there, staring at the fire. Suddenly Kagome stood up.

"I'm going to find Inuyasha." she said firmly, took his haori and sword and exited the hut.

When she was gone the others sighed in relief.

"Was it wise to let her go alone?" Kaede asked mostly herself.

"Don't worry, Kaede-sama." Miroku smiled. "Inuyasha is always near Kagome-sama."

"Yeah." Shippo nodded. "He makes her search him on purpose. I've seen him."

"Just like I'm always next to you, my dear San..." the monk was leaning close to the demon exterminator for a kiss but received a punch in the nose.

Kaede shook her head and Shippo giggled. Sometimes those two were even funnier than Inuyasha and Kagome, but only sometimes. It was always good to watch the hanyou and the girl fight, but most of all the small kitsune liked when the fights ended with a few sits.

Kagome walked toward the forest and suddenly Inuyasha jumped down from a tree and headed toward her.

"Inu..." the startled girl started.

He just snatched his haori and sword and pulled her right hand, guiding her toward the hut. She was too stunned to react in any way at all. When Inuyasha saw that she was following him without him pulling her, he released her hand. He then put Tetsusaiga under his belt and started to put his haori on.

Kagome finally opened her mouth to say something but then saw the look in his eyes and stopped herself. 'Strange.' she thought. 'He looks like he's trying to hold back something... Could he be hiding something from me?'

'You should tell her...' Inuyasha mimicked Miroku sarcastically in his mind. 'Kagome, I love you.' he said to himself and immediately felt heat rising in his cheeks. He put his right hand on his face and continued walking.

"Inuyasha, are you alright?" Kagome asked and involuntary flinched remembering his reaction at this question earlier that day. But to her surprise he didn't shout, he just mumbled something and didn't stop walking. Not wanting to play with her luck Kagome didn't say anything.

They reached the hut and when they entered the others looked at them surprised at how fast they had returned. Inuyasha didn't even look at them and sat at the back of the hut, closing his eyes. Kagome joined her friends by the fire. They stood silent for some time and finally Shippo spoke.

"Kagome, is he ok?" he whispered.

"I honestly don't know." the girl sighed.

"Don't worry, Kagome-sama." Miroku said. "It's probably because of the time of the month."

"Time of the..." Kagome was a little confused but then her eyes widened in realization. "There's no moon tonight!" she exclaimed and an annoyed grunt was heard from the hanyou. "Well, I hope he'll be more reasonable tomorrow." she raised her voice a little on purpose but this time Inuyasha remained silent.

"We better go to sleep." Sango suggested.

"Yeah, but where's Kaede-baachan?" Kagome looked around.

"She went to a sick villager." Sango said and started to prepare for sleep. "She said she'll sleep there tonight." the demon exterminator continued.

Kagome watched the others while they lied down on their futons and then looked at Inuyasha. She couldn't help but worry for him. It was his most hated time of the month but he had never acted like that before. She silently went to him and reached with one hand to touch him.

"What?" he snapped without opening his eyes.

Startled, Kagome withdrew her hand and looked at him strangely. "I... just wanted to ask you if you're hungry..." she said sadly.

"No, I'm not." he snapped again, this time opening his eyes. "Leave me alone." with this he turned his back to her, lied on the floor and curled into a small ball.

Kagome and the others watched him in horror. The first to come out of her shock was Kagome and she made a sign to her friends not to worry and go to sleep. They reluctantly listened to her and soon were in dreamland. She lied in her sleeping bag and soon was asleep too.

Some time during the night Kagome awoke from someone whispering. She pretended to be still asleep and heard Miroku and Inuyasha talk.

"What do you want, monk?" the now human Inuyasha asked annoyed.

"Have you told Kagome-sama, yet?" Miroku asked.

"Does it look like I have?" the hanyou asked, now a little angry of the stupid question.

"Be quiet." the monk hissed. "Do you want her to wake up and hear us?"

"Feh." Inuyasha snapped. "Whatever. Go to sleep." he said and Miroku reluctantly complied – everybody was telling him to sleep.

'So he really is hiding something from me.' Kagome thought and turned toward the hanyou, her eyes still closed. 'I wonder what it is... Should I ask him...' as if she had just woken up Kagome stretched her arms and yawned. She opened her eyes and met Inuyasha's look.

"Kagome, you awake?" he asked, nervousness noticeable in his voice.

"Yea...h..." the girl yawned again and lifted herself on her elbows. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I never sleep when I'm human." Inuyasha answered her and leaned his back to the wall. They stayed quiet for a while and then he spoke. "Kagome, today... at the God tree..." he swallowed before continuing and it seemed to her that he was somewhat feeling uneasy about what he was going to say. "Did I scare you?"

Kagome was left in shock after that question. Yes, he did scare her, but she couldn't say that to him. If she said it that would hurt him – he would think that she didn't trust him anymore, and she knew that. "You see, Inuyasha..." she started.

"No, no..." he sighed. "You don't need to answer me. Of course you were scared. I'm sorry." Inuyasha sighed again, wandering how was it possible for him to talk to her so freely in his human form. But he was glad because of that – now he could tell her.

Kagome smiled at his apology and stood up, going to him. He looked at her surprised and she bent toward him and kissed him on the cheek. "I wasn't scared." she said and smiled at his funny expression. "I was just startled. Don't do that the next time." after saying that she returned to her sleeping bag and lied down.

'Damn it, Kagome...' Inuyasha cursed in his mind. 'Why did you have to do that?' he almost screamed in his mind, all of his courage going to hell because of her kiss.

"Oh, Inuyasha," Kagome turned to him one last time before she lied in her sleeping bag. "If there's anything you want to tell me, don't hesitate, ok?" she said and smiled.

"Y-Yes..." the hanyou stammered. "Of c-course..."

While Kagome lied down and fell asleep, Inuyasha made a mental note. 'Next time when I want to tell her something that important and personal I'll tie her to a tree and make her shut up until I'm done.' the hanyou nodded at his decision and closed his eyes.

TBC


	3. Chapter Three

"Ah, morning!" Kagome yawned and stretched, exiting the hut. Miroku and Sango followed her. Shippo was sleepily lying on the monk's shoulder and Kirara on the demon exterminator's. They looked around as if searching for someone, but didn't seem to see him.

"I don't understand Inuyasha..." Shippo said to no one in particular and yawned. "When he's human he comes after he's transformed and leaves before..." the small kitsune's head started spinning from too much thinking in the morning and just looked at Kagome. "Why is he doing that?"

Kagome was just about to answer when out of nowhere the hanyou jumped on the roof of the hut and then in front of it. "Doing what?" he snapped and eyed the ever annoying 'runt' suspiciously.

"Acting like an idiot..." Shippo said and yawned again, missing to see a fist heading straight toward his head. "Ow, ow!" the kid squeaked and Miroku wobbled, while Inuyasha 'feh'ed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Kagome, he hit me again! Sit him!"

"You deserved it this time, Shippo-chan." Kagome smiled and took the sulking kid from Miroku's shoulder.

"Inuyasha," the monk turned to the hanyou, rubbing his bruised shoulder. "There's a rumor of a strange monster attacking a village not too far away from here."

"Yes, we think it might be related to Naraku." Sango continued instead of Miroku. "We..." she started to say but was cut off...

"When exactly did you learn that?" Inuyasha asked and that question seemed strange for the others, not to mention the calm tone he used.

"Yesterday morning." Sango made the mistake of answering him.

"And why the hell didn't you tell me?" Inuyasha yelled at his friends. "I don't think we have so much time to waste in just sitting around."

"Inuyasha, you weren't in best shape yesterday." Kagome said a little annoyed and he glared at her. "We would've reached the village by nightfall. We couldn't have done anything while you are human." she hoped to calm him down with that last sentence but it just made things worse.

"You knew about that too?" he yelled at the girl and she sighed in defeat, going inside the hut. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" the hanyou yelled after her but didn't dare to follow her.

Kagome went to take her bag and returned to the others. Inuyasha was going to shout again but she passed by him and held her hand on his mouth. "Let's just go." she said and after the inevitable 'feh' he crouched down so she could climb on his back.

The group traveled until noon when Inuyasha stated that he was hungry and wanted to eat at the very moment, not caring what the others thought or if they were stopping on a safe enough place. His behavior, of course, caused him a few sits and half eaten meal by Shippo. With that the kitsune earned himself a punch on the head and Inuyasha another sit. Being smart enough not to interfere, Miroku, Sango and Kirara sat aside the whole time. After all the mess from Inuyasha and Shippo's fights was cleaned the group was off again.

Just like Kagome had said earlier, they were at the village by nightfall. According to what Miroku and Sango had heard about the demon it was a dream monster – a creature that feeds on human emotions while they sleep, draining their energy until they die. And since the energy they spend is bigger when they have nightmares, it is clear what the demon's special ability is – to create nightmares.

Miroku and Sango had warned Inuyasha not to underestimate the demon and as usually the hanyou made no sign to be worried. But that was about to change. As the group entered the village there was no one on the streets. It was dark but it wasn't that late. At least the village guards should be outside.

"Miroku, how did you learn about that demon?" Inuyasha asked while stepping in front of everybody and sniffing the air.

"A wandering monk told me." Miroku answered. "He said that he couldn't chase away the demon and the villagers asked him to find a more powerful monk or a demon exterminator."

"What is it, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked him as after Miroku stopped talking the hanyou growled.

"All the people here are dead." the hanyou answered and placed a hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt.

"Everyone?" Kagome asked and shivered.

Hearing Inuyasha's words Sango and Miroku were immediately ready to fight. The hanyou noticed a change in Kagome scent and quickly spun around to face her – she was afraid. Suddenly, noticing the strange look she was giving him, he turned his back to her and mentally cursed himself. He had always noticed when she was afraid and had always pretended not to have noticed but now...

'I'm loosing my composure!' he thought in panic. 'I have to tell her soon or I'm going to go crazy...' lost in his own thoughts Inuyasha missed to notice a new scent. And the one whom it belonged was heading toward him and his friends pretty fast. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Inuyasha, are you alright?" it was Miroku, who had come to him, seeing how strange his friend was acting.

Startled, Inuyasha turned to face the monk. "I... um..." suddenly the new scent struck his nose and he growled. "Fuck, the demon is here..." he said and turned toward the main street of the village.

"Are you sure?" Sango asked and looked at Kirara, who immediately understood what was wanted from her, and transformed.

"Yeah, it's coming from there." Inuyasha pointed the far side of the main street and drew out Tetsusaiga.

"Miroku-sama, what is that demon going to do?" Kagome asked, her voice a little too shaky than she wanted, which made Inuyasha flinch involuntary. "I hate nightmares..."

"Don't worry, Kagome-sama, this kind of demons only materialize when they have had enough energy." the monk explained and Kagome felt a little relieved.

"It will be just fighting today." Sango said and then turned to Inuyasha. "Is it coming fast?"

Before the hanyou could answer a strong wind blew around them and they shielded their eyes. A terrified shriek was heard when something lifted Kagome off the ground and took her high in the sky. "Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted and tried to see where she was, but the wind was making too much dust.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed and desperately tried to free herself from whatever was holding her.

A loud and earthshaking roar was heard, witch muffled Kagome's screams. Inuyasha's ears and head hurt to the point of loosing consciousness but he desperately tried to stay awake. Although Kagome was sure nobody could hear her she continued screaming. The wind became stronger and sent Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Shippo flying back.

The four landed on their backs and when they lifted themselves, in front of them was an enormous tornado. It had destroyed the whole village and wooden material from the houses, weapons and dead human bodies were spinning around in it. The monk involuntary said a prayer to the gods to save his friends, Sango clutched his hand and Shippo hugged Kirara who had transformed to her smaller form.

When the winds had become stronger Inuyasha had flown a little back but had managed to dig Tetsusaiga in the ground. He shouted Kagome's name but he couldn't hear even his own voice anymore. Trying to steady himself Inuyasha barely managed to dodge a large rock, flying toward him, which resulted in severely wounding his right hand – only his small finger remained unbroken.

Suddenly the winds felt kind of strange to him and realization hit him – they were result of the demon's youki. 'If I can see where Kagome is...' Inuyasha thought and tried to look through the dust and his own hair. '...I could make the Bakuryuuha...' then he spotted her. She was just lightly floating in the air, kicking and from the way her mouth moved – shouting. 'Ok, here it goes...'

With his last strength Inuyasha managed to steady himself and raised Tetsusaiga. He aimed for Kagome and unleashed the Bakuryuuha with a loud battle cry, which he couldn't even hear himself. Being a sort of tornado itself the attack didn't hit Kagome. It formed a round corridor and Kagome passed through it, falling in Inuyasha's arms. He wasted on more time and jumped away from the tornado.

Just when the two were out of the tornado it exploded and Inuyasha landed on the ground with Kagome on top of him. They rolled a few times and this time he ended on top of her. Miroku, Sango, Kirara and Shippo immediately rushed to their friends.

"Inuyasha, Kagome-sama, are you alright?" Miroku asked, seeing that the hanyou wasn't standing up.

"Kagome-chan..." Sango started but heard Inuyasha speak.

"That was close, wasn't it?" he said and moved to stand up but once he was off of Kagome he slumped back down on the ground, loosing consciousness.

TBC


	4. Chapter Four

After Inuyasha had passed out his friends had taken him to a small clearing not too far away from the village and had set a camp for the night. Once they were sure that Kagome was going to be alright with the unconscious hanyou Miroku, Sango and Kirara had gone to the destroyed village to bury the dead villagers.

"Could you bring me the bag, Shippo-chan?" Kagome asked him and he silently obeyed. She was sitting by the fire with Inuyasha's head rested in her lap.

"What's wrong with him, Kagome?" the kitsune asked after giving the girl her small yellow bag. He watched with concern the hanyou's still form and his eyes went to his ears. He hadn't noticed this before, but the two furry appendages were slightly bloody.

Kagome opened her bag and took a disinfectant and gauze. "I think the loud sound exhausted him and knocked him out." she explained to Shippo and started carefully cleaning the blood from Inuyasha's ears. "I hope it didn't damage his ears too much."

"Don't worry, Kagome." Shippo tried to cheer her up, noticing the sad tone of her voice. "He'll just be yelling more than usual for a while." he smiled imagining himself call Inuyasha 'names' and the hanyou look at him confused and shout 'whats' at everybody.

"I know what you're thinking, Shippo-chan." Kagome couldn't hold her smile too and they both broke laughing.

Some time around midnight Miroku, Sango and Kirara returned to the camp to find their friends sleeping. Kagome was leaned to a tree trunk, near the fire, Inuyasha's head was still in her lap with Shippo curled in a small ball on the hanyou's chest. The noise the monk, the demon exterminator and the cat demon unintentionally made woke up the sleeping girl and she opened her eyes.

"Hi, guys..." she said sleepily and yawned.

"Kagome-chan, did we wake you up?" Sango came to her friend followed by Miroku and Kirara.

"Don't worry..." Kagome yawned again and then smiled, seeing the apology in her friends' eyes.

"How is Inuyasha?" Miroku asked leaning closer to look at his friend better.

"I think he's ok." the girl from the future answered. "He doesn't seem to have any injuries... Just some blood from the ears but I took care of that."

The others visibly relaxed and went to sit around the fire, readying themselves for sleep. Kagome closed her eyes again and put her hands on Inuyasha's ears. She noticed that they were slightly stiff and frowned. Miroku had already lied down and was falling asleep but Sango, who was telling Kirara to stay on guard just in case, saw her friend's expression.

"Kagome-chan, everything ok?" the demon exterminator asked, concern not hidden in her voice.

"Yes, it's nothing." Kagome opened her eyes and smiled. "His ears are just a little stiff."

"Oh, I'll go to sleep then." Sango smiled back. "If you need something don't hesitate to wake me up."

"Ok." the other girl said and closed her eyes again.

Kagome sat there for a while, not being able to fall asleep, and involuntary stroke the base of Inuyasha's left ear. She caught herself and stilled. She expected the ear to twitch or at lest to her an angry or annoyed sound from the hanyou, but that didn't happen. She opened her eyes and looked at him worried.

'His ears are stiff, they doesn't move when I touch them...' the girl thought and frowned. She moved both her hands over his ears and massaged them. This time Inuyasha gave out a soft moan but didn't wake up and his ears still didn't give any indication to be 'alive'. Kagome quickly looked at her friends and saw with relief that they hadn't woken up. 'They must be really exhausted with so many people to bury...'

Not knowing if the moan was from comfort or pain she continued massaging the two appendages. Inuyasha didn't move or moan anymore as Kagome continued her massaging. Soon enough she felt his ears become soft and smooth and she let a smile form on her lips. 'You got me really worried here, Inuyasha.' she thought and her smile widened when his left ear slightly twitched and the other followed its example.

Inuyasha slowly started to come to consciousness. He felt a pleasurable sensation running through his body. He felt soft and caring fingers gently rub his ears and he shivered. Suddenly, as if startled, they stopped but remained on his ears. He liked what those fingers were doing and the feelings they were creating in him and he wanted them to continue. So, he did the only think his dazed and sleepy mind could think of – he leaned to the gentle touch.

"Inuyasha?" he heard a familiar voice call his name but didn't really acknowledge it and growled softly trying to press his head closer to the hands. "Inuyasha, you awake?" finally he realized it was Kagome and immediately bolted up, making Shippo roll off of his chest. The kitsune was too deeply asleep and didn't wake up.

As Inuyasha sat up he suddenly felt dizzy and slumped back down, his whole head spinning and aching. Kagome quickly moved next to him and held her hand on his cheeks, trying to make him look at her. "Inuyasha, look at me." she said but his eyes were unfocused and it looked like he was watching her but not really seeing her. That sent cold chills down her spine.

His vision slowly started to clear and he suddenly was aware of Kagome's hands on his cheeks and could hear her call his name. "Wha..." he mumbled and tried to lift his hands but winched as he felt pain in his right hand's broken fingers. He managed to control the pain and finally his mind cleared. He was just about to say to Kagome to calm down when he saw that she was leaning toward his face.

"Inuyasha, say something..." Kagome said, her voice shaky from worry, and leaned toward him to be closer to his ears. Suddenly she saw his eyes widen and his cheeks redden. Before she knew what was happening Inuyasha was pushing her away and sitting up.

"Kagome..." he almost squeaked and backed away a little.

"Inuyasha, are you ok?" she asked and went closer to him, looking at him confused by his actions and his blushing face.

"Wh-What were you doing?" the hanyou asked, not being able to hold back the panic in his voice.

"I-I thought you couldn't hear me and..." she started explaining but then everything became clear to her and she felt anger rising in her. Inuyasha noticed that and gulped, knowing that he had screwed up again. "What did you think I was doing?" she asked and placed her hands on her hips.

"N-Nothing..." the hanyou stammered out, praying to the Gods to save him from the mess he had just created. "Y-You s-startled me."

Kagome raised a brow in disbelief but decided to leave him be, 'Just this time...' She sighed and shook her head. 'I'll let you live this time, Inuyasha.' she joked in her mind and smiled to herself.

The hanyou mentally cursed himself for thinking something like that at a time like that. When she had leaned toward him Inuyasha's still unfocused mind had decided she was going to kiss him. 'Why should she, anyway?' he allowed this sad thought to run through his mind and it decided to stay there. 'Me of all people?' he asked himself and sighed seeing that he wasn't going to receive a sit this time.

Strangely, the others hadn't woken up from the noise the hanyou and the girl had made, and were still sleeping peacefully. Before turning to Inuyasha, Kagome took Shippo in her lap and sat more comfortably by the fire. The hanyou was visibly nervous and sat a little aside from her. He winched slightly at the pain in his hand but didn't show it. However, Kagome knew him all too well and noticed that he was a little tensed.

"How are you feeling?" the girl asked him and he looked at her.

"I'm fine." he answered a bit gruffly and shifted his gaze to the fire.

"Listen, Inuyasha, I'm sorry I got angry..." Kagome started and placed a hand on his shoulder. She felt him stiffen a little and heard him make a nervous noise in the back of his throat. "All this is too tiring..."

"Feh." he quickly recovered and shook her hand off of his shoulder. However, with this movement he shifted his right hand and his fingers brushed against the ground, sending a sharp pain up his whole arm. He gritted his teeth and looked away until the pain went away, finally deciding to stop playing the tough guy and tell Kagome about the broken fingers.

Kagome mistook the reasons of his behavior and thought he was angry at her. She wandered what she had done to make him feel like that and her thoughts came to a conclusion that her last sentence was the reason. 'You always get things wrong, Inuyasha.' she shook her head.

"Ok, Inuyasha, I didn't mean it like that..." she started and he gave her a strange look, forgetting about his hand.

"What are you talking about?" he asked her, and she frowned.

"I know what you're thinking." she started again and he thought he couldn't be more confused than that. "I was talking about the battles..."

'Why is she telling me that?' Inuyasha asked himself. 'Of course she was talking about the battles... What else could she be talking about?' he gave her another confused look and she thought he needed more explanations.

"The battles are tiring, not you or your wounds, ok?" Kagome smiled to him and yawned, closing her eyes in the process and missing to see the look Inuyasha was giving her.

'Tired of me?' the hanyou said to himself. His eyes widened as that thought sank in and a pain fleshed in them. 'Where did that come from? And why does she feel the need to explain me something like that?' he continued looking at her in disbelief and when she finally opened her eyes he turned his head away from her.

"Now, tell me, how are you really feeling?" Kagome asked and again placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm feeling fine." Inuyasha snapped and shook her hand off of his shoulder, again. He stood up and turned away from her. She was just about to stand up too and say something when he suddenly turned to her. "Don't waste your time worrying for me." he said calmly and she frowned, not understanding his behavior. "You are tired." he snapped and emphasized on the last word. Then he just jumped away and deep in the forest.

Kagome just sat there stunned. She was at a loss of words and all she could do was think over about what had just happened. First he was having who knows what thoughts about her and she got angry with him but apologized, then he became angry with her for telling him she was tired and when she explained him she was tired from the battles, not from him or his injuries, he... Angry with him, again, Kagome hit the ground with her left hand and squeezed Shippo's tail, almost waking him up, but caught herself in time.

'I hate it when something like this happens!' Kagome thought angrily. 'He gets something wrong and when I try to explain he doesn't listen. Well, this time the goodhearted one is not going to be me. This time I'm going to be the stubborn one.' with that she made herself comfortable on the ground with Shippo curled in her arms and closed her eyes.

TBC


	5. Chapter Five

Inuyasha ran through the forest at top speed. When he decided to finally stop he was at the destroyed village. Now he could fully see where he had fought and the destruction his fight with the demon had caused. Although the village has been pretty big, there wasn't a single house standing. Everything was in ruins and on a relatively clear place were at least a hundred graves.

'So many people...' the hanyou walked toward the graves and stood in front of them. 'The others must've buried them.' he thought and looked around.

A light wind ruffled his hair and it went to his face. He sighed and tried to move it away, despite the wind. Sometimes he hated it – it was always in the way and was a big disadvantage during night fights. But then again, Sesshoumaru's hair was also white. Hell, his clothes were white too. If he could fight like that, and win, why couldn't Inuyasha do the same? He wasn't counting his father here since he was dead. He knew it wasn't because of his hair but... 'What the hell am I thinking about? I've won in all my fights!' the hanyou yelled in his mind.

"Kagome said my hair is nice, so I'm not complaining." as soon as the words came out of his mouth he slapped a hand on his forehead. "I'm not thinking straight!" he didn't bother to hide the whimper in his voice as he spoke again.

But thinking about Kagome made him remember what had happened at the camp. 'Did I overreact?' he asked himself and scratched his head. 'Maybe a little? But then, if she needs to explain me such things she must've had them in her mind... Maybe not now, but...' lost in his own thoughts Inuyasha had unconsciously moved away from the graves and was heading toward the destroyed shrine of the village.

"Oh, hell!" he yelled frustrated of his incapability of dealing with his own feelings and confusion, which seemed to become a constant condition for him around Kagome. Just then he noticed that he was walking away from the graves. He shook his head and sighed. "I guess the pressure is getting too much. It wasn't so hard with Kikyou..." he said and turned his back at the shrine.

As he walked away a dark cloud came out of the ruins and headed toward him. It was just about to hit him when like proving that he wasn't really in good shape with all the problems with Kagome, he suddenly tripped. The cloud flew above him and remained there. As Inuyasha was falling he managed to push his hands in front of him and landed on them. But as soon as his injured hand came in contact with the ground he yelped in pain and fell on his face. At this moment the cloud flew toward him and hit his back, entering his body. Inuyasha didn't notice what had happened too busy concentrating on cursing his hand and himself for not telling Kagome about it.

When the hanyou stood up he felt a little dizzy but didn't worry about that. 'It's because of that fucking roar...' he thought and shivered remembering the pain in his ears, then dusted himself off. Suddenly feeling tired, he decided to go back to the others and get some rest.

Returning to the camp Inuyasha sighed with relief when he saw that Kagome was asleep. She was curled in a small ball with Shippo in her arms and was slightly shaking. Inuyasha shook his head and started to remove his haori, wincing a little at the pain in his hand. He then covered the girl with the haori and sat under a tree near the fire. 'I don't get it. How can I always get mad at a cute girl like her...' he was too tired to pay attention to what he was thinking and after a while just watching her he closed his eyes and was soon asleep.

Kagome slowly started to wake up. She felt something covering her and keeping her warm. She opened her eyes and saw that Inuyasha's haori was on her. Looking around she spotted him sitting under a nearby tree. His legs were crossed, his left hand was in his lap, holding Tetsusaiga, and his right one was by his right side, rested on the ground. His head was bent down and his bangs were hiding his face.

'So, maybe he isn't that mad at me.' she thought and smiled, immediately forgetting about her vow to be stubborn with him, and lifted herself a little to look at him better.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered, thinking that he wasn't asleep, but he didn't respond to her. She looked around and seeing the brightening sky she knew that the sun was going to rise soon. So, to save Inuyasha from the 'embarrassment' of someone seeing him asleep, she carefully placed Shippo in his haori and silently crept toward the hanyou.

Kagome kneeled in front of him and ran her fingers through his bangs. "Inuyasha..." she whispered softly and lifted his head a little. He just mumbled something incoherent and didn't wake up. "Inuyasha, wake up." she said louder this time and placed a hand on his.

A sharp pain ran up his whole injured arm as Kagome touched it. Inuyasha's eyes suddenly shot open and in front of him he saw her. He didn't know why himself but he gritted his teeth, trying not to cry out in pain and grunted, as if still sleepy. "What?" he snapped at her.

Kagome frowned at the way he spoke to her but thought that he was still sleepy. "Do you want the others to see you sleeping?" she said with a small smirk.

"No." he snapped again and pulled his hand away from hers, making her frown again.

As the sun was rising Kagome noticed that his face was a little pale and his eyes' color was kind of darker and dull. "Inuyasha, are you alright?" she asked him and tried to place a hand on his forehead but he pulled away.

"I'm fine." he quickly said and stood up. He then went to his haori and not caring that Shippo was asleep on it lifted it.

The kitsune rolled on the ground and hit Miroku in the face. Shippo's squeak and the contact he made with the monk's face woke him up and startled, he bolted up. But by doing that he lost his balance and fell right on Sango. She woke up with a start and like on command smacked Miroku on the head. Just a second later at the camp was like a battle field of yells. Even human ears wouldn't stand the noise and what about Inuyasha.

"Shut up!" he yelled holding his ears. "Shut the fuck up!" with that everybody quieted down.

They looked at him confused. Something in his voice was different, it wasn't as firm as always, and as soon as he stopped yelling he seemed to be breathless. He didn't pay attention to them and just started to put on his haori, then told them to hurry up and walked away from them.

"Kagome-chan, what's wrong with him?" Sango came to the other girl while she was turning off the fire.

"Yeah, he looks sick." Shippo jumped on Kagome's shoulder.

"I honestly don't know." she answered. "We had a little misunderstanding but I don't think it has anything to do with his behavior."

"Are you sure?" Miroku also joined the conversation. "Has he apologized or something?"

"Something like that." Kagome shrugged. "He gave me his haori to keep me warm..."

Inuyasha watched the small circle of people and demons around the fire and tried as best as he could not to get irritated. But, after all, that was Inuyasha. Sick or not, he wasn't going to let them talk about him behind his back. "Hey, idiots!" he yelled, startling his friends. "Quit wasting my time. Let's go."

'Wasting his time? Yeah, right!' Shippo laughed in his mind but followed him, along with the others.

The group headed toward Kaede's village. Inuyasha was leading the way but unconsciously he was slowing down. He felt tired but strangely even for him, he didn't care. The others noticed this and finally Kagome couldn't stand it and ran to catch up with him. He looked at her for a second and then again turned his eyes ahead.

"Inuyasha," Kagome started, "I'm gonna ask you this just one more time..."

"My fingers are broken." he just said and stopped, showing his hand to Kagome.

She almost fell on the ground and just gaped at him. "You... When... Why didn't you tell me?" she asked and took his hand to look at it.

Wincing a little at her touch Inuyasha shrugged. "I guess I didn't want to worry you."

"Idiot." Kagome muttered. "When did that happen?" she looked him for a moment and then again turned her eyes to his hand.

By that time the others were already by their side and again couldn't believe how strange Inuyasha could act sometimes. However, they were still concerned about his behavior. Usually the Inuyasha they knew would admit a wound only if it is already noticed, but to say that his fingers are broken just like that, after a night of hiding it – this was really strange.

"When I fought with that dream demon... I hit a rock flying toward me..." the hanyou answered and Kagome frowned. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad." he said and tried to pull his hand away, suddenly aware that he was acting strange.

Despite his hiss of pain Kagome held his hand in hers and looked at him. "It is bad." she snapped at him and he looked at her a little startled. "It would've been good if you hadn't acted like and idiot and had showed it to me. Come on, let's go." she said and pulled him after her.

"Kagome-chan, wait." Sango said and the other girl stopped to look at her friend questioningly. "Take Kirara. She'll take you to the village faster."

"Are you sure, Sango-chan?" Kagome eyed Miroku suspiciously.

"Yeah." the demon exterminator laughed, seeing what her friend meant.

"Ok, then." Kagome said and Kirara came to her, transforming.

She and Inuyasha climbed on the cat demon's back and were off. The others watched them until they completely disappeared from their view and then continued on their way. After some time Shippo jumped from Miroku's shoulder on Sango's.

"It was strange that Inuyasha didn't even protest about Kirara carrying him to the village." the kitsune said thoughtfully and Sango nodded.

"Yeah, it wasn't like him..." she said and turned to Miroku, who was walking a few steps behind her. "What do you think, Houshi-sama?"

"Well, there's one thing that bothers me..." the monk said and kept his concentrated look toward the ground.

"What is it?" Shippo asked.

"Inuyasha is showing all the symptoms of someone overtaken by a dream demon." as soon as the words came out of his mouth Sango and Shippo were in front of him. He looked at them confused. "What?"

"Houshi-sama," the demon exterminator sounded like she couldn't believe what he had just said, "why didn't you say earlier?!" the last part she yelled at the monk's face.

TBC


	6. Chapter Six

It was around noon and the sun was high in the sky. Two figures could be seen walking through the forest – a demon exterminator and a monk. Although it was obvious that they were humans their speed was remarkable. A small kitsune was sitting on the woman's shoulder while she was dragging the monk along the way.

"Hurry up, Houshi-sama." the demon exterminator said and pulled his hand harder.

"Calm down, Sango." the monk pleaded with her but she wasn't slowing down. "I didn't say it for sure. I may be mistaken."

"What if you're not?" the young woman stopped and looked at Miroku.

"It doesn't matter." the monk sighed and Sango looked at him wide-eyed.

"Miroku, you sound like you are the possessed one." Shippo made a 'wise' comment and earned himself a sarcastic look from the monk.

"Ok, listen now." Miroku said and the two looked at him expectedly. "We're traveling on foot and they are riding on Kirara. They'll get to the village tonight and we – tomorrow by noon, if we don't rest for the night and with your speed." he turned to Sango.

"I know!" the demon exterminator was getting impatient and was ready to pull Miroku again. "That's why I'm telling you to hurry up!"

"And I'm trying to explain to you that if Inuyasha is possessed by the time we get there it'll be already too late to help him..." the monk had more to tell but being overexcited Sango interrupted him again.

"What are you saying?!" she almost yelled at him and Shippo just gaped at how direct Miroku was. "Are you suggesting to just..."

"I'm trying to say that we can't do anything, but isn't Kaede-sama there?" the monk lost patience, interrupting Sango. "She is a miko for God's sake! And surely she is more reliable than me!"

"Oh..." the demon exterminator and the kitsune nodded their heads in realization.

"You should've said that at the beginning." Sango said and although she was calmer now, she started pulling Miroku behind her.

"You don't give up so easily, do you?" the monk sighed. "I guess we'll never have some time for ourselves..." he mumbled.

"What are you saying?" Sango turned to watch him for a second.

"Nothing." Miroku shook his head. "Just thinking out loud..." he said and let himself being dragged by the demon exterminator again.

Although she couldn't really show it Kirara was also worried about Inuyasha. Since they had left the other three of the group the hanyou hadn't said even a word, well except when Kagome asked him if he was alright, but that was only a couple of times. Now they were flying above wide rice fields with a small village and the cat demon turned her head toward the girl on her back, growling softly.

"I don't think it's a good idea to stop, Kirara." Kagome shook her head and turned half way to look at Inuyasha whose head was slightly hanging forwards and his eyes were closed as if he was asleep. "But if you're tired..." the girl patted the cat demon on the head giving her a warm smile and Kirara just made a soft sound in the back of her throat and continued flying.

'Broken fingers...' Kagome thought and frowned. '...and he's looking so bad... This can't be all.' she rubbed her chin thoughtfully and again turned to look Inuyasha for a moment. 'Kaede-baachan will know what's wrong with him.'

Inuyasha felt himself slowly leaning forward, he couldn't open his eyes anymore and thought he was going to fall asleep right at the moment. But something, even he didn't know what it was, tugged at the back of his mind, making him fight against the tiredness that was consuming him more and more.

'What's wrong with me?' he asked himself and suddenly was aware of something warm against his face and his hands were resting on something that definitely wasn't Kirara's fur. He tried to open his eyes to see where he was but failed. After a moment he heard his name being called and his eyes opened a little to see that his head was resting on Kagome's right shoulder, his face against her neck, and his hands were on her hips. Strangely, he didn't feel pain in his injured hand.

"Inuyasha," the girl said, her voice a little shaky, and shifted nervously. He didn't answer and she was some kind of afraid to look at him. "Inuyasha, are you alright?" she asked this time braver and received a small moan which made her stiffen and her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

Although there wasn't anything to blush for Kagome felt as embarrassed as if someone had seen her naked. Inuyasha was too numb to fell her stiffen and his vision was so blurred that he couldn't have seen her in thousand years. His moan was his answer that he was alright but even he felt the heat rising in his cheeks, knowing his position.

"I'm... fine..." he managed to mumble after a while and that was enough to take his breath away. And this made things worse. As Inuyasha's breathing heaved Kagome's cheeks reddened even more. Even Kirara turned her head to see what they were doing and looked at Kagome confused.

"I-Inuyasha," Kagome stammered and shifted nervously again. "Could you move away?" she said and for unknown reason needed to explain herself. "You're breathing in my ear..."

"Can't..." the hanyou mumbled again and taking a shallow breath continued, "...too tired..."

Kagome decided to leave things that way and taking a shaky breath gripped the fur on Kirara's neck. The three reached the village by nightfall. Kirara landed in front of Kaede's hut and Kagome called the old Miko, but nobody answered. The cat demon turned to look at the schoolgirl as if asking what they should do now that Kaede wasn't there.

Not loosing time Kagome turned toward Inuyasha, pushing him off of her back to have some room. "Inuyasha, are you awake?" she asked seeing or rather feeling his dead weight on her hands.

"Mmm..." he moaned and his eyes opened a little to look at her. As if knowing what she wanted from him he placed his hands on Kirara's back, trying to support himself.

"That's right, Inuyasha." Kagome said and moved off of the cat demon, still supporting the hanyou with her hands. "We have to get inside... Can you walk?"

Inuyasha gave her a slight nod and she helped him off of Kirara. Kagome wrapped her right hand around his waist and placed his left one on her shoulders. Kirara transformed to her smaller form and watched the couple slowly make their way toward the hut. Once inside Kagome's legs gave out under Inuyasha's weight and she accidentally tripped. The two found themselves on the floor in a matter of seconds.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha, who had landed on top of her, squeaked as he suddenly was aware that his injured hand was under her back.

Startled, Kagome tried to stand up and this only resulted in bumping her head in Inuyasha's and falling back down, smashing his hand even harder. This time the hanyou was prepared and only hissed, gritting his teeth.

"Sorry, sorry..." Kagome was saying while she lifted herself a little and Inuyasha moved away from her.

"Can't you be more careful?" he almost yelled at her, gripping his hand, and she just gave him a puzzled look.

'That's sudden change...' she though and frowned. 'Too bad that Kaede-baachan isn't here. I can't even take care of his broken fingers, not to mention that there's something wrong with his head too.'

"What?" Inuyasha snapped, seeing her expression, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Nothing." Kagome said, deciding not to ask him what had been wrong with him just a few minutes ago. Somehow asking him that question brought only fights with him, lately. She stood up and went in the back of the hut, where was her bag. Taking the first aid kit she returned to the grumpy hanyou. "Give me your hand." she said and he obeyed.

'Strange...' Inuyasha thought while giving his hand to Kagome. 'Just a moment ago I felt awful... Now...' he suddenly hissed in pain as Kagome tried to move his fingers. '...it's even worse!'

"Sorry, Inuyasha." the girl immediately released him and not expecting this, the hanyou dropped his hand and it hit the floor.

"Are you insane?!" he yelled at Kagome and lifted his hand to hold it with the other. "What are you doing?"

A little startled, Kagome took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm sorry, I'm not used to treating broken bones." she said a little too harsh than she really wanted and Inuyasha looked at her surprised.

Soon the hanyou's surprise changed to anger as he thought about her behavior lately. Her words about not being tired of him or his wounds now sounded completely different as he noticed the tone of her voice. Also, why did she always need to explain herself about everything she said? Did she think he was so stupid not to understand a simple thing like 'I'm tired.'? And why the hell didn't she ask him what had been wrong with him while they were on their way toward the village. Inuyasha wanted to ask her but actually he didn't want to have the answers of these questions.

"Oh, really?" he asked her sarcastically. "Maybe you need a break, huh?" he stood up and she looked at him confused.

"Inuyasha, calm down." Kagome stood up too and stepped closer to him. "What are you talking about? Why would I need a break?"

"Ha! Who's the stupid one now?" he asked and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute, mister!" Kagome said, now as angry as him, and without thinking grabbed his right hand. "Who said..."

"Watch what you're doing, you idiot!" Inuyasha yelled at her, pulling his injured hand away from her. Kagome opened her mouth to apologize but he was faster. "Obviously you are so concerned about me that you would rather tear off my hand than try to take care of it!" with that he exited the hut, leaving Kagome to just stare after him.

"Sango, I think we already passed through here." Miroku said as the three stopped by a tree in the thick forest. It was dark already and it wasn't really a good idea to continue, anyway.

The demon exterminator looked around and also noticed that what the monk had commented was true. "This can't be true..." she groaned and slapped on hand on her face.

"We're lost?" Shippo who was on the monk's shoulder asked, although he already knew the obvious answer.

"Without Kirara and Inuyasha to guide us we can't find anything." Miroku made another discouraging comment and earned a death glare from Sango. "But I'm sure we'll find the way ourselves..." he quickly added. "...sooner or later..."

"I just hope Inuyasha is ok." Sango said and pulled Miroku after her again.

TBC


	7. Chapter Seven

After Inuyasha had left, Kagome had sat on the floor and just stared at the door. Kirara was now in her lap, purring softly, while the girl was stroking the fur on her head. Until now after a similar outburst from Inuyasha the first thing Kagome would think was 'Who's he to act like that when I'm just trying to help him?' Now she was thinking 'Something's definitely wrong with him.' But with Kaede gone she couldn't do anything and she couldn't follow him either. He must be miles away by now, besides it was dark outside and full of demons searching for a meal.

Kirara was more than worried for her friends. She didn't like it when they were fighting like that. But there was nothing she could do. The only way she thought she could help was to snuggle closer to Kagome and show her just how much she liked what the girl was doing to her. The cat demon's purring was the only thing that was making Kagome calmer, knowing that at least the small demon liked something about her.

Suddenly Kagome heard steps outside the hut – someone was coming. She stood up and moved at the back of the hut, hoping that whoever it was wasn't going to see her due to the darkness. The steps stopped right in front of the door. Kirara was growling lowly and Kagome whispered to her to be quiet.

"Kaede-sama?" a male's voice was heard and Kagome recognized the village's headman. "Is that you, Kaede-sama?"

"No, no..." Kagome said, hurrying to go to the door. She went outside and the man visibly relaxed seeing the girl. "It's me..."

"Oh, Kagome-sama, you're already back?" the man said and tried to look behind her to see if there was someone else in the hut.

"Yes." the girl nodded. "We finished the job pretty fast." she saw that the man was looking over her shoulder and continued. "I'm only with Kirara here. Inuyasha went to sleep in the forest and Miroku-sama and Sango-chan are coming back tomorrow."

"Is everything alright? Usually you don't separate." the headman said concerned.

"Everything's fine, don't worry." Kagome smiled at him. "Anyway, where is Kaede-baachan?"

"She went to the neighboring village to help a fellow miko with a small youkai problem." he explained. "She should be back in few days."

"Oh..." Kagome said thoughtfully – she didn't like the idea of Inuyasha in the condition he was in for so long.

"Are you alright, Kagome-sama?" the man asked seeing her expression. "Dou you need something?"

"No, I'm fine." the girl smiled. "Thanks for the concern. I'll be going to bed now. Good night."

"Good night, and feel free to call me if you need something." the headman said and they separated.

Kagome entered the hut and started the fire. She then went to her bag, which was in the back of the hut and unrolled her sleeping bag. She moved it closer to the fire and lied in it. Kirara immediately snuggled in the girl's arms and quickly drifted off to sleep. Kagome stayed awake for a while, hoping that Inuyasha would return – like the night before. But he didn't come back and sadly Kagome closed her eyes and was soon in dreamland.

Inuyasha ran through the forest cursing and growling and when he finally stopped he found himself in front of the God tree. Although he hadn't ran for a long distance he felt breathless and that enraged him even more. And when we add the pain in his hand he was already to kill anybody he saw in front of him.

"Stupid girl!" he yelled and sat heavily on the ground. "What's so difficult in fixing broken bones?" he asked himself and lifted his injured hand in front of his face. His fingers were hanging loosely and when he tried to move them pain shot through his whole arm. Deciding not to cause himself anymore pain and that they would heal in a day or two he dropped his hand in his lap and sighed.

'This time it wasn't my fault.' he thought about his fight with Kagome. 'She should've been more careful.' he sighed again, unconsciously knowing that he was at least a little guilty too. He decided he was too tired to think about that and started to get up. He intended to go back to the hut – after all he was worried about Kagome's safety. Then it hit him. 'That's right... Why am I so tired all of the sudden? And why the hell did I feel like a wet rag while we were traveling?'

Suddenly a familiar scent came to his nose, not allowing him to think about his condition anymore. "Kikyou..." he whispered and turned around and sniffed the air. She was near and was closing the God tree. A few seconds later a few soul snatchers flew across the clearing, followed by the dead Miko.

Seeing the hanyou she stopped and looked at him surprised. "Inuyasha, what are you doing here?" she asked and resumed walking toward him.

"Keh." he managed to say, coming out of his surprise. "That's my line."

"Cats don't fall on their backs, Inuyasha, not dogs." Kikyou said and he frowned not fully understanding what she meant. "Forget your pride at least once." she explained.

Inuyasha looked at her for a while before deciding to say something. "What am I without my pride?" he said that sad question more like as a statement. "That is if I still have one..."

Kikyou frowned at how down he was and walked even closer to him. "The Inuyasha I know doesn't talk like that." she said and reached with one hand to touch his cheek.

"Well, if you wanted to see the old Inuyasha, you should've come three days ago." he said and pulled away from her.

"Problems with Kagome?" the dead Miko asked and looked at the hanyou in expectation.

"Stupid girl." was Inuyasha's mumbled answer.

"What did you do now?" Kikyou asked with a bit of amusement in her voice, which made the hanyou look at her with shock.

"I didn't do anything!" he defended himself.

"What happened then?" Kikyou asked and moved to sit under the God tree.

Inuyasha followed her with his eyes before speaking. "Nothing." was all he said and looked at the ground.

"Inuyasha," the dead Miko sighed. "I know I'm the last person you would want to talk with about your relationship with Kagome, but make an effort. Please?"

The hanyou lifted his head and crossed his hands over his chest. He took a deep breath and decided that Kikyou had the right to know what was happening. "Well... She's been acting really strange lately. She doesn't look so concerned about me like she usually is, she talks stupid things like being tired of me and doesn't want to treat my wounds. She practically thinks that I'm an idiot and that I don't notice these things, but still comes up with stupid explanations that make things even worse..."

Kikyou listened to him carefully and smiled to herself. She already knew what was making Inuyasha act like that and she was sure that all his conclusions were wrong. So, she was going to make him understand his mistake and hopefully apologize to Kagome. "And when did that started? I mean the change in her behavior."

Being over excited and not really paying attention to what he was saying, which was what Kikyou was counting on, Inuyasha just said the first thing that came to his mind. "Right when I decided to tell her that I love her. I don't know if she had noticed something but she started..." suddenly he was aware of what he was speaking and most of all in front of whom he was doing that.

Kikyou saw the horror in his eyes when he cut himself short but didn't react in any way at all. Inuyasha swallowed hard and being still cross armed he gripped his arms almost piercing the fabric of his haori, despite the pain in his broken fingers. "Why did you stop, Inuyasha?" she asked calmly and he thought that his jaw was going to hit the ground if he opened it.

"I-I..." he started stammering and after a few seconds gave up talking and just started at Kikyou.

"What are you thinking, Inuyasha?" she asked and when she didn't receive an answer decided to continue. "Do you think that I'm angry? Or maybe sad? I'm not asking you if you care about what I think, because you obviously do." she waited for him to speak but he again remained silent, only his face calmed a little. "That's right, I'm not angry, I'm not sad. I'm actually kind of happy for you."

That last sentence caught Inuyasha off guard and he frowned. "What are you saying, Kikyou?" he asked and loosened his grip on his arms. "How can you be happy? I, myself, can't feel that way about my feelings toward Kagome..."

"And why is that so?" the dead Miko asked calmly.

"Because..." the hanyou started and dropped his hands to the sides. "Because it's not fare for you. It was my fault you suffered so much and died." he said and fisted his hands. "And I made a promise to myself to follow you to Hell after we defeat Naraku."

"Inuyasha," Kikyou sighed and stood up going to him. "I don't want you to come to Hell with me. I've realized that we weren't meant to be." he opened his mouth to protest but she silenced him with a finger on his lips. "I think about what happened different now. Before I met you I was already cursed that if I fall in love I would die. It wasn't your fault, and you didn't cause my death either. At that time our love just wasn't meant to be." she smiled when she was the sad look in his eyes and felt his need to refuse what she was saying.

"It is my fault." he insisted. "If you hadn't met me..."

"Then it would've been someone else." she interrupted him. "And I would've died again. I am glad that I fell in love with you, Inuyasha. And now I am happy that you love Kagome. That way you still love me, Kagome and my soul is one and the same."

Deep inside him Inuyasha knew that she was right and that was the reason he was willing to tell Kagome about his feelings. "But it's still not fare for you." he said and she smiled again.

"You never give up, do you?" she asked and he 'Feh'ed. "You see, that's the problem with you and Kagome." Inuyasha looked at her confused. "You are both too stubborn to make the first step. And Inuyasha I advise you to first look at how you act toward her and then judge her behavior."

"What if she doesn't feel the same way?" he asked sadly.

"Forget your pride and stubbornness and for once let her look inside your soul." Kikyou said and placed a hand on his cheek again. "Then you'll see her clearly too." Inuyasha sighed heavily and closed his eyes. Kikyou smiled at him and just when she was going to move away from him she noticed that his right hand was hanging somehow strangely. "What's with your hand?" she asked and carefully lifted it.

"I broke my fingers in a fight." he explained wincing as she carefully touched his fingers.

"So that's why your youki was so unstable..." Kikyou said and held his hand in hers, but she was wrong about the reason of the instability of his power.

Inuyasha watched her hands start to glow in pure pink light and he couldn't help but close his eyes. He felt warmth in his whole arm and soon this warm feeling spread through his whole body. The pain slowly went away and with it the feel of Kikyou's hands. When he finally opened his eyes she was gone. He looked around and sighed.

"Thank you." he said and started walking toward the village.

TBC


	8. Chapter Eight

Inuyasha returned to the village late at night. He entered the hut and couldn't help but feel relieved that Kagome hadn't gone in search for him. He threw a few sticks in the fire to keep it burning and that made Kirara wake up. Inuyasha gave her a signal to be quiet by placing a finger on his lips and after the cat demon laid back down he turned to leave the hut.

'She was pretty angry but...' he thought and stopped, turning to look at the sleeping girl, reconsidering his decision to go outside. 'No, it won't be good if the first thing she sees in the morning is me.' with that he exited the hut and jumped on the roof.

He didn't sleep the whole night. And how could he, after everything Kikyou had told him. It turned out that she was even a better person than he thought. He repeated her words in his mind and now, as they sunk in, he truly understood them. 'Why the hell not?' he shrugged, thinking about her advice to forget his pride and stubbornness.

It was around midnight and the other three of the group was just getting ready to continue on their way after a not refreshing enough break. Sango was standing up and stretching while Miroku was sadly staring at the grassy ground and Shippo was dozing off on his shoulder.

"Come on, Houshi-sama, get up." the demon exterminator said and went to pull him up. "We lost a lot of time in trying to find our way."

"And we still haven't found it." the monk sighed and stood up before Sango could reach him. "Wouldn't it be better if we wait for Inuyasha or Kirara to find us?"

"If Inuyasha is possessed the last thing they would think is us." she said and grabbed his right hand. "So, let's go."

Miroku groaned in despair and followed her. They walked through the forest for a while. For Miroku it was like forever and he prayed to the Gods to do something that would stop the inexhaustible demon exterminator. Apparently tonight the heavens were very benevolent toward the monk. Suddenly a strong wind blew around the small group and when it was gone Kouga was standing in front of them.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked and looked around sniffing the air.

"Hi, Kouga..." Miroku said weakly.

"Where are dog butt and Kagome?" the wolf demon asked somewhat concerned, not for Inuyasha but for Kagome of course.

"We got separated." Sango explained. "They had to take Kirara and go tot the village first."

"Why?" Kouga was now really worried. "Something wrong with Kagome?"

"No, no, she's alright." the young woman hurried to calm him down.

"If only that mutt..." Kouga didn't listen and now was angry.

"Kagome-sama is alright." Miroku said, deciding to help Sango. "The problem is with Inuyasha. That's why they had to take Kirara and go to the village."

"The village you say?" Kouga said thoughtfully. "Don't you think you are lost?"

"A little..." Sango said quietly.

"A little?" the wolf demon asked in amusement. "You are at least two days away and you're walking in the wrong direction."

Sango and Miroku's mouths dropped open and they thanked God that Shippo wasn't awake to hear that. Suddenly loosing her will to continue the demon exterminator walked over to a fallen tree trunk and sat heavily down. She held her face in her hands and sighed deeply, mumbling something incoherent.

"Hey, don't be like that." Kouga said feeling a little guilty about what he had said, or rather about the way he had said it.

"Listen Kouga, can you do us a favor?" Miroku asked hoping to receive a positive answer only to make Sango feel better. "We can't ask you to guide us..."

"Alright." the wolf demon didn't wait for the monk to continue. "I'll go to the village and tell Kagome to send you that... cat." he had trouble remembering Kirara's name. "I'd get to see Kagome too."

"Thank you, Kouga." Miroku smiled. "And please, just in case, tell Kagome-sama that Inuyasha is probably possessed by a dream demon. Kaede-sama would know what to do."

"A dream demon?" Kouga scratched his head. "Never heard of such..."

"It's really important; don't forget to tell Kagome-chan." Sango, who had come to the monk again, said.

"Don't worry, I won't." Kouga said. "You just stay here and wait. Bye!" with that he was off.

The morning came fast for Inuyasha. He waited for the sun to rise before he went in the hut to see Kagome. She was still in deep sleep. Noticing that someone had entered Kirara opened her eyes and lifted herself a little, mewing at the hanyou and tilting her head to the side in question.

"Shh, Kirara." Inuyasha whispered. "I'm going to the river, so you keep Kagome safe, ok?"

The small cat demon mewed in agreement and the hanyou exited the hut. He headed to the river with the intention to take a nice refreshing bath. The last few days were really difficult for him and he needed to cool off. Actually not only his mind was on fire from overstress, but his whole body felt like burning. So, the cool river waters were the only thing that could calm him and he desperately needed that.

Kagome woke up about an hour after Inuyasha left the hut. She smiled at Kirara and sat up in her sleeping bag, stretching and yawning. She looked around the hut and noticed that the fire was still burning – someone must've kept it during the night.

"Kirara, has Inuyasha come while I slept?" Kagome asked and the cat demon nodded. "Really?" she couldn't help but feel happy.

"Kagome-sama?" she heard the headman's voice. "Are you awake?"

"Yes, I am." she said and went outside.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you." Kagome smiled.

"Since Kaede-sama is not here, I came to offer you to have breakfast with my family." the man said and looked around as if searching for someone. "Isn't Inuyasha-sama here?"

"No, he has come some time during the night and then left again." the girl explained.

"I see." the headman nodded. "Well, are you coming?"

"Can I take Kirara too?" she asked and the cat demon climbed on her left shoulder. "She won't cause any trouble."

"Of course you can take her." the man smiled. "Come on, let's go." he said and Kagome followed him.

It was around noon when Inuyasha finally decided to go back to the village and meet Kagome's wrath, if she was still angry of course. He had a strange uneasy feeling and something was making him stay alert all the time. It felt like a demon was nearby but he couldn't say where it was. The bath didn't help him to feel better at all – he was still hot and now he even felt slightly dizzy. If he wasn't a hanyou he would think that he was getting sick.

In the village Kagome had just returned to Kaede's hut. She had stayed the whole morning in the headman's house, helping his wife by watching their children. That was the least she could do for them, after all they had been so nice with her. And actually she was pretty good with kids, having annoying little brother, a small kitsune and one really big kid to take care of – Inuyasha.

"Those children were really impossible, weren't they, Kirara?" Kagome smiled and stroke the cat demon's ruffled fur. Kirara growled softly – obviously she wasn't happy with her stay in that house. Kagome was just about to enter the hut when she suddenly felt two Shikon shards closing with enormous speed. She sighed heavily, knowing who was coming and stood in front of the hut.

Soon enough a big whirlwind appeared at the far side of the road. Kouga was running so fast that if he hadn't smelled Kagome he would've missed the hut. Not able to slow down in time he managed to stop a few meters away from the hut, almost falling on the ground. Not seeing Kagome anywhere he started to look around but being the idiot he is he didn't think of turning back.

"Kouga-kun, I'm here." she shouted at him.

"Oh, Kagome, hi!" the wolf demon turned to her and ran to her. "I was looking for you."

"Obviously." the girl said annoyed. Today was the worst day for Kouga to appear. Although she didn't think that Inuyasha was angry anymore it was more than easy to piss him off and with the 'hated' wolf here... She just had to get rid of him before Inuyasha smelled him. "What do you want?"

Kouga frowned at the way Kagome was talking to him and decided that Inuyasha must've done something really terrible to make 'his' woman so angry. Thinking that this wasn't a good time to be too close to her, considering the damage she could do to Inuyasha and why not to him, Kouga decided to tell her what he was asked and leave. Knowing the hanyou's temper after a fight with her he didn't want to meet him either.

Inuyasha was on his way toward the village when a familiar and really irritating scent struck his nose. "Kouga..." he growled and ran off. What was he doing here? And why the hell hadn't Inuyasha smelled him sooner? Right now, the hanyou was sure of it, the mangy wolf was with Kagome and he was very close to loosing control.

"Well?" Kagome said nervously looking around. It was as if she knew that Inuyasha was coming and that made her feel really worried. She was sure that he was in some kind of stress or something and just didn't want to even imagine the consequences of a meeting with Kouga.

"Well," the wolf demon started and seeing that Kagome was getting more impatient missed to notice a familiar scent, the owner of which was closing very fast. "Last night I ran into your friends. They are lost and asked that you send that cat... What was her name..."

"Kirara." Kagome said and he nodded smiling. "Thank you very much Kouga-kun." at this point she completely forgot about why she wanted him to leave. He had actually come to find help for her friends! "And you came only for that?"

"Yeah, and I wanted to see you too." he said scratching his head nervously and moved closer to her. He took her hands in his right and wrapped his left one around her waist. Kagome made and annoyed sound in the back of her throat but made nothing to push him away. "They also said..."

"What the..." a surprised and at the same time angry voice was heard.

Kouga immediately released Kagome and looked at Inuyasha somewhat suspiciously. There was something different in his scent but it wasn't like the one he got when he transformed into human – it was completely the opposite. Yes, Kouga felt pure rage come out of Inuyasha. It was like he didn't have control over himself.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome looked at the growling hanyou worried. There really was something wrong with him. Usually she could easily feel and recognize his youki every time and everywhere but now it felt completely different. It was like a fire that was being sprinkled with something inflammable. Seeing Kouga's worried face and not really wanting to see how Inuyasha is going to tear the wolf demon into shreds, Kagome didn't waste time and said the saving word. "Sit." and just in case... "Sit."

"Thank you, Kagome." Kouga said, this time he was really willing to run away. "I'll be going now..."

"Just tell me in which direction Kirara must fly." Kagome said and glanced at Inuyasha, who was growling and struggling to get up.

"Only west." the wolf demon pointed.

"Oh, and you said that they told you something else..." the girl reminded him.

"Yes, yes..." Kouga tried to remember but from the surprise from Inuyasha he had forgotten everything. Kagome even had luck that he remembered the right direction. "I forgot. But it wasn't important."

"Alright, now go before Inuyasha gets up." she said and after waving for goodbye Kouga was off.

Just a second later Inuyasha was up. Another second and he slumped down again, cross-legged of course, breathing heavy. Kagome ran to him and crouched in front of him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked at him. His eyes were unfocused and he didn't seem to be very coordinated and adequate. She shook him slightly and he turned his eyes to her but she was sure that he couldn't see anything.

"Inuyasha, snap out of it." she said and shook him again. "Inuyasha!"

Suddenly he startled and his vision cleared. He blinked a few times and worriedly looked around. "Kagome?" he turned her name into a question. "Why am I here?" he asked and she looked at him even more confused than he already was.

"What do you mean?" she asked and leaned a little closer to him. "Don't you remember how you got here?"

"No, I was at the river and I was coming back and then..." his eyes looked to the side and his brows furrowed as if trying to remember something. "I don't remember..." he looked at Kagome almost in panic. "What the hell is wrong with me?!"

TBC


	9. Chapter Nine

'Where is Kaede-baachan when we need her the most?' Kagome thought desperately, trying to ignore all the noise Inuyasha was making while she was practically dragging him toward the hut.

"Calm down, Inuyasha." she pleaded with him, deeply regretting for sending off Kirara – she could use some help right now.

"How can I?" the hanyou almost yelled. "This is insane! I am going insane!"

"No, nothing is insane. You're just sick or something..." Kagome tried to reason with him and successfully pulled him inside the hut. "Just sit down and try to relax."

"It's easy for you to say!" Inuyasha said after being pushed to sit on her sleeping bag. "You don't have black spots in your mind."

"That's true, Inuyasha." Kagome said and went to her bag. "And it's white spots, not black." she corrected him.

"Well, mine are black." he snapped and made an attempt to cross his arms in front of his chest but yelped in pain.

"What's wrong?" the girl quickly spun around and rushed to him.

"My hand..." the hanyou whimpered holding his right hand in front of his face.

"Oh my..." Kagome gasped seeing that his index finger's claw was almost completely torn off. Blood was dropping from his finger and not really caring how he sounded Inuyasha whimpered again. "When did that happen?" the girl asked and carefully took his hand in hers.

"I have no idea." Inuyasha said and shivered at the thought about what he could've done during his 'black spots'.

Kagome released him and went to her bag again to take the first aid kit. Actually she had a pretty good explanation about his torn off claw. 'It must've happened when I sat him.' she thought but decided not to tell him – she didn't want to upset him more than he already was.

"Now stay still." she said and took his hand with her left, in her right one she was holding pincers. "This may hurt a little."

"What are you gonna do?" Inuyasha asked nervously, looking at the strange object she was holding, but didn't pull his hand away completely.

"I'll remove that claw." she said and seeing his horrified expression and feeling how his hand stiffened, she decided to continue with her explanations – just in case if he decided to run away. "If I don't the wound might get infected and I'll have to cut your finger off."

Inuyasha nearly choked and his eyes looked like they were going to burst out. In the condition he was currently he didn't get that Kagome was exaggerating and actually there was no way in Hell that she could cut his finger off. She involuntary shivered at the look he was giving her and couldn't help but feel guilty about lying like that to him. A second later Inuyasha thrust his hand in hers, turned his head to the side, gritted his teeth and closed his eyes tightly.

Kagome took that as a sign to proceed. "Ok, here it goes." she said and held the claw with the pincers. "Ready?" she asked and after receiving an approving nod from the hanyou, pulled the claw.

Inuyasha just winced a little and remained in his current position while Kagome cleaned and bandaged his finger. When she was ready she let his hand go and started to gather her things to put them back in her bag. When she turned to him, after closing her bag, she saw that he still hadn't moved.

"Inuyasha, you're ready." she said and went to sit next to him on her sleeping bag.

The hanyou slowly opened one eye and seeing his bandaged finger he sighed in relief and relaxed. "I thought you said you were going to cut it off." he said darkly and the girl next to him frowned.

"I was exaggerating, Inuyasha, you know that." Kagome said and then she seemed to remember something. "Wait a minute, weren't your fingers broken?" she asked and took his right hand to look at it better.

"They were..." he said and after swallowing hard continued. "There's something I have to tell you..."

"Hm?" she eyed him suspiciously and he gulped.

"I, well... I met with Kikyou last night." he said and involuntary Kagome dropped his hand. He winced a little but didn't say anything about that. "She healed it..."

"Oh?" Kagome raised a brow at him, her face starting to get a cold and serious expression. "And what else did you two do? Alone?"

"W-We t-talked..." the hanyou's throat suddenly went dry and he coughed.

"Are you sure?" the girl asked and her cold tone immediately told him that whatever he said she wasn't going to believe him. Actually she knew that his relationship with Kikyou wasn't her business, and she definitely had no right to act like that with him, but she was just...

"Are you angry?" Inuyasha asked, not answering her question.

"Why should I be?" she turned her head aside and wanted to stand up and leave him.

"Are you angry?" he asked again, grabbing her hand and pulling her back down.

Kagome blinked at him in surprise and disbelief. Usually he was the one who didn't want to talk about those things and would be happy if she left him alone, but now it was the opposite. "A little." she said, deciding to see why he was so brave today.

"Why?" that question caught her completely off guard and se started at him for a moment before finding her answer.

"Well, I guess it's something like your unexplainable jealousy." she said and was left even more surprised when she saw his cheeks redden a little.

"I don't know what you think me and Kikyou do when we meet..." now was Inuyasha's turn to be surprised as he saw her start to blush.

"No, don't tell me." Kagome quickly said before he could continue. "I believe you that you only talked. It's not my business, anyway."

"Well, we talked mostly about you..." the hanyou said, looking at her only with the corner of his eye. "...and me...about..."

"Kagome-sama?" a child's voice from outside the hut interrupted Inuyasha.

"Keep that thought." Kagome ordered before going to the door, suddenly very interested about what he was saying. "I'm coming." she yelled and exited the hut.

"Um...hi, Kagome-sama." a small girl, bout 11-12 years old, said.

"Hi, Aiko-chan." Kagome smiled. "What is it?"

"You forgot this." the girl handed a book to her.

"Oh, thank you." Kagome said and took the book, which she had originally brought to read fairy tales to Shippo, and this morning – to the headman's children.

"Will you come again some time?" the girl asked and tried to look as sweet as possible.

"Of course." Kagome smiled and after waving for goodbye the girl ran off.

When she entered the hut Inuyasha was nervously scratching the floor with his left hand's index finger and was quietly muttering something. The moment the girl he had been having the most important conversation in his whole life appeared at the door, he shut up and froze on his place. She hurriedly placed the book in her bag and turned to go to him. This was the first time he had decided to tell her about his meeting with Kikyou, without much pressure from herself and she just couldn't help but be curious and excited.

"So, Inuyasha..." she started to say as she was about to sit next to him again, but suddenly she tripped in her sleeping bag and with a small scream fell forward.

Seeing her fall, out of reflex, Inuyasha turned toward her and standing on his left knee he caught her. However, the Gods weren't on his side these days and the next situation was the ultimate proof for that. As Kagome fell in his arms, his right foot slipped forward, making him fall on his back. The startled girl crashed on top of him and their faces came so close that their lips lightly touched.

Everything was ruined – Inuyasha's courage had once again been blown away to Hell. Until now he hadn't been really determined to tell Kagome about his feelings for her – he was just willing to give it a try, to follow Kikyou's advice and talk with the girl from the future more openly. White spots started to appear in front of his eyes and his vision started to blur very fast. Now he was afraid – it was an incredibly strong and overwhelming fear that felt like it was eating him from inside.

As Kagome's lips touched Inuyasha's she suddenly felt lightheaded and for a moment she thought that he had done that on purpose. While falling she had closed her eyes and now when she opened them, she saw him staring at her wide-eyed. Kagome looked at him confused at first, but seeing how unfocused his eyes had become she started to worry.

"Inuyasha?" she said and tried to pull herself away from him, but his hands on her waist held her tight. Then his breathing started to quicken slightly and she felt him start shaking. "Inuyasha..." she repeated his name but again got no response.

'This is bad. This is bad.' Kagome kept repeating in her mind while she pried herself free from the hanyou's tight grasp after nearly twenty minutes of unsuccessful attempts. His breathing was now heavy and deep, his eyes were still opened and he had started sweating. 'He's got a fever.' the girl thought as she touched his forehead and cheeks.

Back at the forest, far away from the village, the two familiar humans were on their way again. The demon exterminator was dragging the monk, on whose shoulder was sitting the small kitsune, again. It was getting dark but the two didn't seem to want to stop, well at lest one of them didn't. The monk and the kitsune, who was felling sorry for his friend, desperately pleaded with Sango to stop and rest. But she didn't listen.

"Sango..." Miroku and Shippo groaned in unison.

"No." she said without even turning to look at them.

"Kaede-sama is there, Kouga went to warn them, Kirara is probably already on her way to take us." the monk tried to reason with the determined demon exterminator. "Why don't we stop? We might miss Kirara. Are we even waking in the right direction?"

"Yes. Kouga ran this way." Sango said and pulled the young man's hand harder. "We have to hurry. And not a word from you two anymore, understood?"

"Yes." Miroku and Shippo sighed and followed without more complains.

At Kaede's hut everything was quiet. Inuyasha was lying on Kagome's sleeping bag by the fire, with a wet cloth on his forehead. It was already dark outside and there still wasn't any change in his condition. Kagome was sitting a little aside from him, hugging her knees close to her chest.

Right now she couldn't do anything for him and that made her want to cry. The only thing she could do right now was think over about what had happened. After this strange 'fit' or whatever it was that Inuyasha had and was still having, Kagome had gone to the headman's house for help. She didn't get any – after all the man wasn't a healer. But he at least agreed to send someone to the other village to get the old Kaede.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome whimpered. "What am I going to do with you now..."

TBC


	10. Chapter Ten

A dull thud was heard in the hut as Kagome fell to her right side. Sometime during the night she had fallen asleep, sitting, and now she was groaning on the floor. She held her aching head as she sat up, thinking of the big bump she was going to have. Looking through the small window she saw that it was already morning and the sun was just rising. Then her eyes landed on Inuyasha. It seemed that he hadn't moved all night and his condition hadn't changed.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome said quietly as she moved closer to him. "Inuyasha..." she repeated louder when he didn't answer and again got no response.

'I hope Kaede-baachan comes faster.' the girl thought while changing the already dry cloth on the hanyou's forehead with a wet one. She looked at his wide open and empty eyes and involuntary shivered. 'This look gives me the creeps, Inuyasha.' she thought and reached with one hand to close his eyes. The moment she removed her hand they opened again, startling her.

"They are here, Kaede-sama." a man's voice was heard from outside and Kagome immediately rushed toward the door.

"Kaede-baachan!" she yelled and ran to the old Miko to help her get off of her horse. "I'm so glad you came... He's just lying there...staring off at...nothing..."

"Calm down, child." Kaede said, once on the ground. "Let's go inside and you'll explain me everything."

"Finally..." Miroku groaned as he sat on a fallen tree trunk at the side of the road.

"I don't want to hear it, Houshi-sama." Sango threatened and sat next to him, at his left side.

"You are evil, my dear." the monk said while trying to catch his breath, which only earned him an angry glare from the demon exterminator.

"Seriously, Sango!" Shippo, who was on Miroku's left shoulder, said. "You are worse even than Inuyasha!"

"Do you want this?" she shot the small kitsune a cold glare too, showing him her right fist.

"No!" Shippo squeaked and moved to Miroku's right shoulder. "I take my words back."

"I just can't stand you two anymore!" suddenly the demon exterminator yelled and stood up in front of her friends, her fists shaking in anger by her sides. "How can you be so calm? Don't you give a damn about Inuyasha?"

When she had started shouting Shippo had fallen off of Miroku's shoulder and had hid behind the tree trunk. At first Miroku was startled and surprised by Sango's sudden outburst and just started at her stunned. But when he saw two tears fall down her cheeks he frowned. Shippo was confused beyond belief when, after finding the courage to look at his friend, he saw her crying. Why? For Inuyasha?

"Sango..." Miroku said, standing up and going to her. "Calm down... Of course we care about Inuyasha."

"No, you don't!" she yelled at him and pushed his reaching hands away. "Don't you hear yourselves?"

"Sango, we are just trying to be optimistic." the monk tried to explain and again reached toward her. "I was just trying to cheer you up..."

"Yeah, me too..." Shippo said from his hiding place.

"Well, it's not working!" the demon exterminator cried and again tried to push Miroku away but he just grabbed her hands and pulled her in a tight embrace.

Shippo started at them in disbelief. Sango was loosing her temper; Miroku was hugging her not because he wanted to grope her but because he wanted to make her feel batter. And all this for Inuyasha? Why? He sure was worried for the hanyou too, but after all the beatings he has got from him for telling him that he was weak, Shippo just couldn't imagine Inuyasha in death threatening situation.

"Don't cry, Sango." Miroku whispered. "Worrying for him and practically trying to loose ourselves again isn't going to help him."

"I know..." she cried and leaned closer to him to make him hold her tighter. "It's just... I lost everybody I loved because of Naraku. You guys are everything I have."

"Shh, Sango..." the monk whispered again and held her tight.

"Inuyasha did so many things for us... for me..." the demon exterminator said with shaky voice. "I tried to kill him, I stole his sword... And I did this for Naraku but... but he didn't give up on me..."

"I know... I understand you, Sango." Miroku said and stroked her head. "We all first fought against him and despite everything we are friends."

Shippo stood on the tree trunk, staring at his friends with wide eyes. Everything they said was true – although they had once been his enemies, Inuyasha had actually accepted them as his friends. The small kitsune felt like the lowest and dirtiest creature in the whole world – only he hadn't realized this, and had even joked about the mighty Inuyasha being sick. Tears started to fill his eyes and he started to hiccup. Hearing him Miroku and Sango parted and looked at him.

"I am so sorry!" Shippo cried and jumped forward. Sango caught him and as he buried his face in her chest she looked almost terrified at Miroku.

"Shippo, what's wrong?" the monk had the same expression as Sango and they both were totally confused.

"Shippo-chan..." the demon exterminator started.

"I don't want Inuyasha to die!" the kitsune cried again, not lifting his head from the demon exterminator's chest. "I promise to apologize for every bad word I've ever said to him. I'll let him hit me on the head too."

"You see what you did now?" Miroku asked Sango and she looked him questioningly. "How are we going to deal with a crying kid?"

"Shut up, Houshi-sama." she glared at him through still teary ayes. "You're just upset that your head isn't where his is."

The monk immediately stiffened and gave her a nervous laugh. "It's not like that, Sango." he said, bringing his right hand behind his head.

She just 'Humph'ed and started to stroke Shippo's head and try to calm him down. After all were quiet and calm they decided to continue walking and hope that Kirara would find them. It seemed that their prayers were heard and about noon they spotted the cat demon in the sky. Thanks to their all night walking and Kirara's half day and night flying they had saved a whole day. After seeing them the cat demon landed and received a warm hug from Sango.

"I'm so glad to see you, Kirara." the demon exterminator smiled. "Everything ok?" she asked and the cat demon nodded. "Oh, good." she sighed.

"So, Inuyasha's alright?" Shippo asked smiling and Kirara tilted her head to the side in question.

Sango frowned at this reaction and exchanged worried glances with Miroku. "We think that Inuyasha is possessed by a dream demon. Did Kouga tell you?" she asked and Kirara shook her head.

"Are you sure?" Miroku asked, his slightly shaky voice showing his concern. "What about Kaede-sama?" after that question Kirara just looked at him.

"We won't learn anything like that, Houshi-sama." Sango said firmly. "We have to go to the village as fast as we can. Do you need rest, Kirara?" she asked and after the cat demon shook her head the group was off in the sky.

At Kaede's hut the old Miko and Kagome were sitting beside Inuyasha. Kagome had just finished explaining the old woman what had happened while she was examining Inuyasha. He was still lying by the fire on the girl's sleeping bag, but at least his eyes were now closed. Kaede had removed his haori and shirt and now his breathing was calm and even. The old miko looked at him for a moment and frowned.

"What is it?" Kagome asked impatiently. "What's wrong with him?"

"Most likely Inuyasha is possessed by a dream demon." the old woman said thoughtfully.

"We fought one before we came here, but I thought we killed it." the girl said and just now she realized why the hanyou was acting so weird all the time. "What are we going to do now?"

"This is a very strange condition." Kaede said, again as thoughtfully as the last time.

"But you can handle it, right?" Kagome asked, fear not mistakable in her voice.

"Listen to me now, child." the old Miko started and a strange feeling of dread appeared in Kagome's heart. "Inuyasha's condition is no ordinary. He is in some kind of trance, which serves as a barrier against the demon. Something must've startled him and he must've built up a defense against the demon." Kaede stopped for a moment to take a breath and just couldn't miss how Kagome's cheeks reddened at her last sentence. "Unfortunately, I can not deal with such a situation, it is beyond my powers."

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, her eyes widening and her voice dangerously shaking. "Are you saying that he is going to die? Inuyasha?" the very thought of the hanyou dying sounded absurd to her and she just refused to believe it.

"No, child." Kaede said quickly, before the girl in front of her from desperate became angry because of her powerlessness. "I didn't say that. Houshi-dono can help him. Right now the demon is of no threat to him..."

"Because of this 'trance'?" Kagome asked a little calmer.

"Yes." the old Miko nodded. "When Houshi-dono comes here I will wake Inuyasha up and..."

"And Miroku-sama is going to kill the demon!" Kagome smiled widely, not really caring that Kaede might get angry because of her interrupting her in every few words. After all that was the best news she had heard in days.

TBC


	11. Chapter Eleven

It was around noon and the sun was high in the sky. Kaede was in her hut, preparing tea. Inuyasha was lying still on Kagome's sleeping bag, covered with his haori and with a wet cloth on his forehead. The girl was nowhere to be found.

Strangely, the floor in front of the door was wet and there was placed a rag to take up the water. Kagome was just entering the hut, holding a bucket full with water, when suddenly Inuyasha's eyes shot open. The girl shrieked and only Kaede's not very quick but effective reaction stopped the bucked from falling on the floor and spilling the water.

"That's the third time!" the girl almost screamed at the hanyou. She obviously didn't care that he couldn't even hear her let alone respond to her. Then she turned toward the old Miko. "Why is he doing that?"

Despite the seriousness of the situation Kaede was barely holding back a smile but managed to give Kagome a serious answer. "It seems that he is reacting to your presence." she explained while placing the bucked by the fire and sitting down.

"It's creepy." the girl whimpered as she went to sit next to the hanyou.

"Don't look at him." the old woman suggested, shrugging.

"How can I not look at him when he is in front of me?" Kagome asked and sighed in relief when she saw Inuyasha slowly close his eyes.

"Here, have some tea." Kaede said and gave her a small cup.

"Thank you, Kaede-baachan." the girl smiled. "And I'm sorry for the floor. I'll be more careful the next time."

"Don't worry about that, child." the old Miko said with a smile. "You better have some rest. I will watch Inuyasha."

Being really tired Kagome didn't protest and went to the futon Sango usually slept on and lied down. She watched Kaede prepare some herbs, more tea and some soup, for a while. Then she looked at Inuyasha and hypnotized by the steady rise and fall of his chest she quickly fell asleep.

"So you can stop for Kirara to rest but for us..." Miroku was grumbling but was cut short.

"I told you that this doesn't work on me, Houshi-sama." Sango glared at him while stroking the small cat demon's head, which was curled in her lap.

"Alright..." the monk sighed and sat next to the demon exterminator, on the grass by the road.

It was early evening and the group of four had decided to stop to rest for a while. Kirara had been flying almost the whole day and it was understandable that she was tired. Only Shippo wasn't – he had been sleeping the whole time on Miroku's shoulder. His friends wandered how he could hold on while he slept but quickly gave up.

"Are we there?" the small kitsune yawned, finally waking up.

"No." Miroku answered and looked at the sky. "Maybe around midnight..." he said and looked at Sango for a second opinion.

"Yeah." she said, also looking at the sky. "If we don't stop anymore..."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Shippo jumped in front of his friends and Kirara gave him a soft but somewhat warning growl.

"We will go once Kirara is rested enough to continue." Sango said firmly and the cat demon leaned to her touch, mewing quietly.

Shippo sighed sadly and went to sit next to Miroku. They stayed like that for a while and when Kirara was ready to go they were off in the sky. The sun was just setting when suddenly Sango spotted Kouga drinking water from a small spring. She showed him to her friends and they decided to land and ask him what had happened in the village.

"Oh, hi guys!" he waved at them when he saw them.

"Don't give me this." the demon exterminator stomped toward him with Hiraikotsu behind her back.

"What's wrong?" the wolf demon was confused. "The cat came to take you... What's the problem?"

"You haven't told Kagome-chan that Inuyasha is possessed by a dream demon!" Sango almost growled at him and it was even scarier than a demon's growl.

"Ah, I knew I forgot something..." Kouga gave her a nervous laugh and brought one hand behind his head, making a step backward as the demon exterminator approached. "But it wasn't my fault!" he tried to defend himself.

"And how is that so?" Miroku joined Sango's side and narrowed his eyes at the wolf demon.

"Inuyasha had totally gone insane." he started. "If it wasn't Kagome's 'sit' command he would've killed me this time for sure."

"So, you got scared." Shippo said with a smirk.

"N-N..." Kouga stammered and his words died in his throat.

"What about Kaede-sama?" Miroku asked, this question bringing Kouga back to his senses.

"What about her?" the wolf demon only looked more confused.

"Didn't she tell you anything?" the monk asked again, starting to get impatient.

"Kagome was alone there...with the cat." Kouga said and frowned at the worried looks the people in front of him suddenly got. "What the hell is that all about? Is it really so serious?"

"Yes, it is." Sango said and turned to walk toward Kirara with Shippo jumping on her shoulder. "And the cat's name is Kirara." she yelled over her shoulder.

"And you are coming with us." Miroku added and grabbed Kouga by the pony-tail.

Not long after Kagome had fallen asleep she woke up again. She looked at her wristwatch and frowned – only two hours. Kaede wasn't in the hut and the girl wondered where she could have gone. Well, at least there wasn't any change in Inuyasha's condition. That in some way was good because it meant that the demon couldn't break through the hanyou's barrier but it also was, like Kagome had said earlier, creepy.

"Miroku-sama, come here faster." she whimpered quietly and hugged her knees close to her chest. Soon she fell asleep again, in this position.

"Kagome..." Kaede's voice startled the girl and...

Thud!

"Ow..." Kagome was on the floor with another bump on the head. "Not again..." she groaned and pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"Are you alright?" the old woman went close to her and looked at where she had hit her head.

"No..." the girl said and winced in pain as Kaede touched the bump. "Where is Miroku-sama? I can't stand it anymore..."

"Calm down, Inuyasha is alright." the old Miko said and gave Kagome a wet cloth to put it on her head. "The demon can't do anything to him while he is in this condition..."

As if to prove her that everything had its exceptions the hanyou suddenly convulsed and his eyes shot open. The two women stared at him startled. His sharp intake of breath and another convulse made them immediately go to him. His whole body was shaking, he was sweating, his eyes were rolled up and he couldn't seem to take a proper breath.

"What's wrong with him?" Kagome cried, loosing her composure, and trying desperately to stop him from moving.

"The demon is breaking free..." Kaede said and hurriedly went to a pile of herbs by the door. "It wants to get out of his body."

"Well, isn't that a good thing?" the girl asked, searching for hope in the old woman's eyes.

"No." the old woman answered and having found the herb she needed returned to the convulsing hanyou, who looked like he was suffocating. "If the demon gets out, Inuyasha will surely die."

"Then do something!" Kagome yelled and if there weren't tears in her eyes Kaede would have been really insulted by the way the girl was acting toward her.

"Hold him still." the old Miko ordered and started to squeeze the herbs in a small bowl. "And stay away from his mouth." as she said that, from the herbs started to leak some kind of green liquid.

Kagome did as she was told and stayed as far away from his mouth as she could. Considering the fact that she was holding him from practically hitting them it wasn't an easy thing. But after a short time his struggles started to calm down and his breathing became shallower. By Kaede's worried look she knew that this wasn't good.

After all the liquid was squeezed out of the herbs into the bowl, Kaede took it and moved closer to Inuyasha. She managed to open his mouth and poured every drop of the liquid in. Soon after that the hanyou calmed down and his breathing turned back to normal. His eyes slowly closed and his body relaxed.

"That was close, wasn't it?" Kagome sighed and sat back.

"Yes, it was." the old Miko answered. "Hopefully there won't be another fit like this."

"Why?" the girl frowned at the strange tone of Kaede's voice.

"Those were my last herbs of this type." she explained. "They don't grow in this time of the year."

Kagome didn't say anything. She just sat next to Inuyasha and kept watching him. 'Don't you dare scare me like that again.' she threatened him in her mind. 'You have to hold on. There is no other option for you.'

The hours were passing slowly, one after another, Inuyasha's condition was still the same, Kaede hadn't left the hut even once since the last incident and Kagome again had fallen asleep sitting. The old Miko shook her head and smiled at the sleeping girl. She thought of waking her up but she didn't want to deal with an irritated and tired Kagome right now.

The sun had already set and it was close to midnight. Kagome had just fallen again and had a third bump on her head. Then the two women heard noise coming from outside the hut. They heard voices and immediately recognized first Kouga, who was apologizing; then Sango, who was speaking rather violently at the wolf demon; then Miroku, who was trying to calm the demon exterminator down but wasn't succeeding; and then Shippo, who was urging his friends to hurry and enter the hut.

Kagome rushed outside and ran to the others. After some quick 'Hello's and an even quicker explanation of what was happening everybody were in the hut. Understanding that Kouga had known what the problem was Kagome turned her angry eyes to him and the poor wolf demon lost all hope that he could have at least one chance with her.

"I will deal with you later." she said coldly and pointed the place by the door.

"Sorry..." he said quietly and went to sit to the pointed place.

"Houshi-dono, you know what to do." Kaede said and Miroku nodded, taking an ofuda from inside his robes. "Now I will wake him up." after that the old Miko lifted Inuyasha's head a little and poured some strange smelling tea in his mouth.

TBC


	12. Chapter Twelve

Everybody waited for whatever was going to happen. Kagome, Sango, Shippo and Kirara were sitting at the right side of the door and Kouga at the left one. Nobody dared to say even a word and just stared at the unmoving hanyou on the floor. The minutes were passing one after another but he wasn't showing any signs of waking up. Kaede and Miroku were starting to get worry and were exchanging nervous looks.

Suddenly Inuyasha inhaled sharply and his back arched, startling everybody. The monk and the old Miko were caught unprepared and couldn't stop the hanyou from sitting up, in time. Inuyasha breathed hard and tried desperately to clear his vision. He saw a few dark shadows coming closer to him and waved his right hand in front of himself thinking that he might be in some kind of danger.

"Inuyasha, calm down." Miroku tried to reason with him. "It's us – Miroku and Kaede-sama..." he tried to catch his hand but Inuyasha pushed him back.

"That's right, Inuyasha." the old Miko added but he kept backing away from them. "Kagome is here too..." she motioned for the girl to come closer and she complied.

"I'm here, Inuyasha." she said and hearing her voice seemed to calm him down. "That's right, relax..."

"I don't feel so good..." were the hanyou's words as he slumped, sitting, on the floor. Then he started coughing and brought his hands to his mouth. "I feel sick..." he mumbled.

"No, Inuyasha, hold on." Kaede commanded and looked at Miroku to show him to hurry up. "The demon is trying to come out from your mouth..."

"I think something else is going to come out from there..." Shippo squeaked and hid behind Sango.

"Inuyasha, try to stay still." the old Miko said as the hanyou's body was once again rocked with another coughing fit. Seeing that it was no use she moved away from him to clear Miroku's path.

"Ok, here it goes!" the monk shouted and threw the ofuda toward the hanyou's forehead.

The magical piece of paper pasted on his forehead and sent a few impulses through Inuyasha's body. This all resulted in his body going limp all of a sudden and in the next second he was like stunned. He just sat there, in the back of the hut, with his eyes closed and his hands by his sides.

"I-Is h-he ok?" Kagome stammered out after a while, since she saw that everybody else were just staring at him.

"Yes," Miroku nodded proudly. "Now he really is."

"But what was that all about?" the girl continued with her questions. "What exactly did you do to him?"

"Well, with this ofuda I managed to isolate the dream demon." the monk started to explain. "Now its youki is gathering inside the ofuda and when the demon's energy is all drained it will die."

"And how long are we going to wait?" Kouga asked – he was obviously very concerned about his well being. It would be very good if he received only Kagome's beating and if the wait was to be a long one they might let him go.

"At least a weak." Miroku answered, not failing to notice why the wolf demon was so interested.

"Is Inuyasha going to be ok when he wakes up?" the small kitsune, who had finally come out of his hiding place, asked. "I mean is there going to be any permanent damage to him?"

"No, I don't think so." Miroku said and then paused for a second, looking at the hanyou. "But after sitting like that for a whole week, he is going to be a real pain when he wakes up."

"Alright, that's enough." Kagome said, her voice sounding really tired. "It is late, we are all very exhausted, let's leave all this for tomorrow, ok?"

The others shrugged and agreed with her. Kouga was the happiest since he could get away much easier than he first thought. But just one freezing glare from Kagome made him change his mind. He quietly sat back by the door and pretended to want to sleep, just to avoid her eyes. The others made themselves comfortable around the fire and were soon asleep. Only Kagome and Kaede remained awake.

The two women didn't talk much. It had been a really stressing situation and fortunately everything was almost over. Kaede knew why the girl was so quiet – she was angry of Kouga, and the old woman didn't want to be the reason for a fight. The two cleaned the mess Inuyasha had made with his moving around and after Kagome placed his haori on his back and shoulders she and Kaede also went to bed.

But Kagome didn't go without a blood freezing warning for the wolf demon. "I'll deal with you tomorrow, Kouga." she hissed at him. "Don't you dare run away, 'cause if you do, I suggest you leave the shards here... So I won't be able to find you."

The wolf demon gulped and involuntary shivered – that didn't sound like 'good night, my dear husband', and he was sure that it would newer be. Now he knew why Inuyasha always listened to her – she was one hell of a woman and she was scary. Although he tried not to fall asleep he failed and soon followed the others in dreamland.

It was early in the morning. Everybody, except Kagome who was still sleeping in the hut, were outside and having breakfast. Suddenly a strange annoying screaming sound was heard from inside the hut and everyone rushed to see what was going on. They found Kagome digging through her bag. She managed to pull out a strange small plate and when she opened it and pressed a button on it the sound stopped.

"What was that?" Shippo startled her.

"Oh, guys, sorry..." the girl said a little embarrassed. "It's my personal organizer."

"Personal...what?" Kouga asked highly confused.

"It's a something that reminds me of certain things..." Kagome explained.

"And what did it remind you now?" Shippo asked and went to her to look at the strange device better.

"That I have tests this week..." she said weakly and sighed sadly.

"Ok, everybody out." Sango suddenly said and for no time in the hut were only Kagome, the unconscious Inuyasha and her. "What are you thinking?" she asked her friend.

"What do you mean?" Kagome was a little confused.

"Are you going or not?" the demon exterminator asked.

"Of course I'm not!" the other girl exclaimed. "I can't leave him here like this?" she pointed at the hanyou.

"Now listen to me." Sango started firmly and pointed her right hand's index finger at her friend. "Inuyasha is fine, we will take good care of him, there's noting to worry about. And besides I don't want to listen to your fights when you blame him for not taking your tests."

"I wasn't going to blame him for that!" Kagome suddenly became defensive but she knew very well that her friend was right.

"Yeah, right!" Sango smiled. "Pack your things and get going. I'll wait for you outside." with that the demon exterminator left the hut to tell the others about Kagome leaving for a while.

'She is right.' Kagome thought and looked at Inuyasha. She stayed like this for a while and started to get that same strange feeling of discomfort when looking at him for too long. It was like he could stare her back. 'He's just like a statue now. And this is creepy too.' she crawled toward him and looked at him closer. She felt like hypnotized and it was Sango's voice to hurry up that startled her and she pulled back.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked herself and went to take her bag. But passing by the hanyou she dropped the bag and kneeled in front of him. "What is it so hypnotizing with you all of a sudden..." as she was mumbling she was unconsciously closing the gap between their faces.

Suddenly Kagome became aware that she was kissing him and she quickly pulled away. She fell back on her butt and held one hand on her mouth, the other on her chest. Her vision was slightly blurry but right now she didn't really pay attention to this. Right now her head was one big mindless fluff. As if she had seen a ghost she stood up, grabbed her bag and ran outside – straight toward the well.

"Bye!" she yelled and was off.

'I guess I'm saved...' Kouga sighed as he saw her run away, and couldn't help but wonder about why her face was so red. A moment later, when he turned to her friends, he already regretted that his woman wasn't here to save him. After all they were three, if we don't count Shippo...

"We are lucky that Kaede-sama went for herbs." Miroku said ominously.

Kouga made a step back as the monk grabbed the beads on his right hand. 'There's no getting out once inside that Kazaana...' he thought and only the option to run away appeared in his mind. But will he be fast enough to escape the winds of the black hole?

"Yeah," Sango laughed. "And Kagome-chan would've been too nice with him..."

The wolf demon made another step back as the demon exterminator lifted her Hiraikotsu off the ground. 'I've seen what that weapon does... It's not as strong as Tetsusaiga but when she is fighting with it...' he told himself and now was sure that he had to get away.

One angry growl from the now transformed Kirara and he was sent off running through the forest, shouting that he was sorry. The four friends, this time counting Shippo too, broke down laughing. It was always fun to joke with Kouga and by the looks of it Inuyasha didn't have to worry about the mangy wolf taking Kagome for himself.

TBC


	13. Chapter Thirteen

"Kagome-chan!" three voices called her as she entered the school building.

"Yuka, Eri, Ayumi!" she smiled at them. "How are you doing?"

"How are we doing?!" Yuka asked with amusement in her voice. "Your grandfather told us that you broke your legs!"

"Really?!" Kagome laughed nervously and mentally slapped her grandfather for talking such nonsense. "Well, he... I just... twisted my ankles. Nothing too serious as you see."

"Oh." the three girls nodded.

"And you are alright now?" Eri asked and leaned closer toward her friend. "You're not lying to us, are you?"

"Of course I'm not!" Kagome almost yelled, suddenly feeling guilty for actually, well, lying to them. "I really twisted them!"

"Not that, Kagome-chan." Ayumi laughed, clueless as always and her other friends were currently staring at a passing by boy to notice the suspicious situation Kagome was in. "You're not lying that you're ok, are you?"

Kagome simply nodded and the four walked toward their classroom. For her own good, she decided that she should first think before answering questions. If things continued this way she could accidentally admit everything to her friends, and being so impulsive she too much resembled a certain hanyou.

When they entered the classroom, the math teacher was already there – an about 40-years old man with dark hair and glasses, wearing a black suit. The girls wandered what he was doing there to early but shrugged and went to sit on their places.

The classes were about to begin when the principal entered. She was about 50-years old woman, not very tall – middle height, with grey hair and big round glasses. Next to her stood a boy who seemed to be the same age as the other students. He was wearing the usual boy's school uniform but he had blue-white trainers on, instead of the ordinary shoes. His hair was blonde and its length was to his shoulders, he had dark green eyes and a strange self-confident smirk.

Every girl from the class was like stunned when they saw the boy and the other male students suddenly got really jealous, starting to glare at him. Only Kagome didn't seem interested in him and that immediately caught his attention. She kept playing with her pencil, her mind busy thinking about when she kissed Inuyasha, not admiring the foreign boy. Finally her attention was brought to him when the principal, after saying a few words to the math teacher, left the classroom.

"Listen up everybody!" the teacher started and placed a hand on the boy's right shoulder. "This is Kai Jamison. He is here thanks to our school's student exchange program and will stay for two weeks. Tell them something about yourself, Kai."

"I'm from America, New York." he started and his Japanese was surprisingly good. "If you're wandering how I can speak your language so good, well my father is a Japanese teacher in New York."

"Ok, that's enough, Kai." the teacher said and showed him an empty desk to sit there. "We have a test after all." he smiled and the students all groaned in disappointment. "Oh Higurashi, I want you to come to my office after classes."

"O-Ok." the poor girl stammered out – she was sure that this wasn't going to end well. But what could she do except meet her cruel destiny?

Kagome was walking through the long corridor toward the math teacher's office. Her head hung down in despair, while her mind raced through various reasons of why she was called. Finally she found herself in front of the door and tried to hear if there was someone else inside the room, except the teacher. She could hear faint voices and if her teacher wasn't talking to himself, there definitely was someone else with him.

"Ok." the girl took a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob. "I've fought and killed demons and I'm not afraid of a math teacher." she said and after knocking, opened the door.

"Higurashi, come in." the teacher said smiling, which made her feel a little uneasy.

Like Kagome had heard, there really was a second person inside. It was Kai. He was sitting on a chair in front of the teacher's bureau. The man motioned to her to sit on the chair next to Kai and she complied. She saw the boy's smirk again as he obviously was very well aware of her uneasiness and that made her even more uncomfortable.

"I'll get straight to the point, Higurashi." the man started and the girl frowned – this couldn't be good. "I am very concerned about your wellbeing. I think that because of your illnesses you have lost contact with the world around you..."

While the teacher continued talking about how she should enjoy life, go out with friends, smile more often, be more careful with her health and so on, Kagome almost felt insulted. He was practically saying that she was some stupid little girl that was afraid to even come out on the street. Anger started to rise inside her but she managed to remain calm. But, anyway, how dare he talk like that to her? This time she really wished that Inuyasha was there to give him a piece of his mind.

"...so, in order to bring some joy and diversity in your life, I want you to take Kai and show him the city." the teacher finished with a wide grin and leaned over his bureau, closer to Kagome.

She just stood still and started at him with a look of horror and disbelief. "E-Excuse me?" she almost squeaked. This was not fair! She wanted to be able to go to the Feudal Era every day after school. She wanted to see Inuyasha, not go out with some stranger that was irritating her with his strange looks and smirks.

"Don't worry; I won't bother you too much." Kai stepped in the conversation, placing a hand over Kagome's left, making her give him a strange look of herself. "I'm serious." he said and held her hand a little tighter so she wouldn't pull it away.

She looked at his eyes and felt a little dizzy. Blinking a few times to clear her vision she saw a strange flash in his eyes but thought that she must have imagined it. Then she was suddenly aware that her teacher was talking again and turned to look at him, not really bothering that Kai was still holding her hand.

"I don't accept 'no' for an answer, Higurashi." the man said cheerfully but then the tone of his voice became serious and threatening. "You are one of my best students, despite all your absents. Let's keep it that way."

Kagome sighed deeply and hung her head down in defeat. "Alright." she said weakly and the teacher smiled again.

"Very well." he said and took a sheet of paper. "Here, take this." he handed it to Kagome.

"What is it?" she asked after looking at it closely.

"These are the most important places in the city that I want you to take Kai to." he explained. "I want to see a picture of you two at every place you visit."

"But my house is in the list too?" Kagome pointed and Kai looked too.

"You live in a shrine?" he asked in surprise. "That should be interesting."

"You think so?" the girl looked at him and when he nodded, she smiled. And there it was again – the strange flash in his eyes that seemed to hypnotize her so much and she couldn't resist it this time too.

"Well, you are free to go now, Higurashi." the teacher said, braking the eye contact between the boy and the girl. "I will free you from school for three days. Come back here tomorrow to take Kai. And don't worry about the tests."

Later that night, Kagome was sitting on her bed in her room. The list her teacher had given her was thrown on the floor and Buyo was lying on top of it. She sighed sadly and looked outside of her window. The moon was full and she could clearly see the small well house. And maybe for the twentieth time today she wandered if she should go see Inuyasha, but again decided against it.

There was something strange that she couldn't seem to get out of her head. The night before, after she had come back from the past, she had the strangest dream ever. It had repeated itself over and over again all night – her and Inuyasha just sitting and talking about various things. It was a pleasurable feeling but it somehow bothered her. Feeling her head hurt from being too tired, she finally decided to stop thinking about the bossy, violent, two-timing hanyou and go to sleep, praying for a good day tomorrow.

A good day or not, Kagome was late again. When she reached the school her teacher was pacing back and forth in front of the building's main entrance. Kai was standing at the left side of the main door, his back resting against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and he wasn't really paying attention to the man's angry muttering. The moment he saw her, the same smug smirk appeared on his lips but Kagome was too far away to notice.

"I am so sorry I'm late, sensei." Kagome apologized and bowed in front of the man.

"It's alright, Higurashi." he said but his voice was serious, showing that he was still angry. "You know what to do. I will be going to classes." with that the two teenagers nodded and he entered the building.

"So, where to?" Kagome asked and hander Kai the list.

"Take it easy, Kagome." the boy laughed and didn't take the sheet of paper. "Can't I first tell you that you look beautiful?"

When he called her by her first name without asking for permission, her well known anger was just about to step in. Her brow twitched in irritation and she opened her mouth, but then... She was beautiful?! Well, she knew that very well – why else would Hojo fallow her everywhere and ask her out on every occasion, if she wasn't beautiful. The problem was that until now, even he hadn't told her something like that just like something ordinary for her.

"You think so?" she asked, her cheeks reddening a little and looking away from him.

"Yes." Kai laughed and took the time to look her better while her eyes were averted. She was wearing a simple light-blue summer dress, a white jacket and white sandals. "Come on, let's go eat something."

"But what about..." Kagome held the list in front of him and he took it just to place it inside his pants' right pocket.

"We don't have to go to all those places." he said and took her hand to make her follow him. "I'll deal with the crazy mathematician."

"Alright, but I want to make one thing clear to you." the girl looked at him serious while they walked away from the school.

"Whatever you say." the boy smiled.

"This is not a date." she said firmly, feeling the need to clear that to him considering his self-confident and provoking behavior.

"And why not?" he asked with amusement in his voice and smirking, again.

Kagome stumbled and painfully bit her tongue, startled from such a question. "B-Because..." she stammered, wincing a little at the pain in her tongue. "Because I have a boyfriend!" she managed to say and was left in even bigger shock when Kai laughed.

"Oh, your friends told me about him." he said and they stopped walking.

"Listen Kai, let's not talk about that right now." Kagome said and after he nodded they continued walking, but not before he wrapped his left hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She just sighed and didn't protest.

It was a nice and quiet evening in Feudal Japan. The sun was setting and the sky was very beautiful to watch. At least for the couple sitting on the stairs toward the village shrine it was nice – a monk and a demon exterminator. They were quietly talking about something and laughing every now and then. Suddenly loud and hysterical cries were heard from inside the hut and they both stood up.

"Miroku! Help! Sango!" Shippo was screaming.

Startled by the kitsune's cries the monk and the demon exterminator entered the hut in such a rush that Miroku tripped in Kirara, Sango in Miroku and all landed on the floor with a painful thud. They lifted their heads and saw a worried Shippo in front of a human Inuyasha.

"Why is he human?" the small kitsune asked calmly.

With many annoyed and angry hufs and pufs Sango and Miroku were up and Kirara was freed from the monk's weight. The small cat demon mewed softly and went to her mistress. The demon exterminator took her in her arms and went to Miroku, who had keeled in front of Inuyasha. The monk examined the ofuda on the hanyou's forehead carefully and turned to Shippo and the woman next to him.

"I think that the demon is already dead." he said and sat back.

"Really?" Shippo grinned and jumped on Inuyasha's left shoulder to look at him better.

"Yes." the monk nodded and turned to Sango when she spoke.

"Isn't it too quick?" she asked a little worried.

"Well, yeah..." Miroku said thoughtfully and looked back at the hanyou. "It's been only three days."

"Oh come on, guys, calm down!" Shippo said, trying to cheer them up. "That's Inuyasha after all."

"He's right, Houshi-sama." Sango decided that there was nothing to worry about anymore and even smiled.

"Alright." Miroku sighed and smiled back at her.

TBC


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Kagome sat alone on the bed in her room. She kept sighing every now and then, looking at a picture of her and Kai. She had purposely placed it on the desk, away from her, just to remind her that he was going to go home after all. Although she was well aware of that she couldn't help but feel sad about him leaving.

It had been two days since they first went out and today was the last time she was going to be with him the whole day. At first she had thought that he was just one arrogant and spoilt idiot, but it turned out that there was more underneath this 'shell' of his. Actually he was very intelligent for his age, had an unbelievable sense of humor and could make her laugh or blush from embarrassment every time he wanted.

Ever since they looked at each other there's been this strange feeling of attraction the seemed to come from deep inside her heart. In his presence she felt like some powerful force overwhelmed her and she just couldn't take her eyes away from him. At first she thought it was strange and this even worried her but then this feeling of uneasiness dulled and disappeared. Even Inuyasha hadn't made her feel like that and when we speak about the hanyou – that was the first time she had remembered about him since she first went out with Kai.

"I wonder how he's doing..." Kagome mumbled and looked outside to see the sun just rising. "But I don't have time for this right now!" she said cheerfully and stood up, going to take a shower.

If she had listened to what she had said, Kagome would have gladly smacked her head in the closest wall. She didn't have time for Inuyasha? Now that as really strange, but she didn't seem to care. Right now her head was full of Kai and how nice they were going to spend the whole day together.

After about an hour Kagome was ready to go – she was wearing light-blue jeans and a tightly fitting red top. She hurriedly put on her white trainers and grabbing her jacket, was off. Mrs. Higurashi shook her head and smiled, watching her daughter run toward the stairs outside the shrine. Then she entered the house to get ready for work.

Kagome was at the school, she sat on a bench under a tree, waiting for Kai. If she had listened to her mother and waited a little longer she wouldn't have been there a whole hour earlier. Even Kagome, herself, couldn't think of a reason why she was so impatient and impulsive about Kai, but every time she just shrugged and let that concern go.

"Isn't it a little early for you to be here?" she heard his voice as he covered her eyes with his hands, from behind her.

"And how about you then?" she giggled and removing his hands from her face he moved to sit on the bench, next to her.

"Just couldn't wait to see you." he simply said, grinning at her and giving her a slightly expecting look. "And you were even more impatient than me?"

"No, of course I was not!" Kagome almost yelled, her cheeks reddening from embarrassment. "It was just bad luck that..."

"So, you didn't want to see me?" Kai gave her a disappointed look and her eyes widened, realizing what she had said or rather how it sounded. "I'm hurt, Kagome."

"No, Kai, of course I wanted to see you!" she defended herself. "I didn't mean it like that... It's just... I..." then seeing him smirk she blushed even more than before. "You're making this on purpose!"

"I know." he said and laughed when she hid her face with her hands.

"I hate you." the poor girl mumbled and Kai laughed again, moving closer to her and hugging her. A small alarm bell turned on in the back of her mind, telling her that she wasn't supposed to be allowing him to embrace her so freely. She stiffened and was just about to push him away when a sudden calmness washed over her and she relaxed, forgetting about her worries at once.

"It doesn't look like you do." Kai said and released her to stand up. He offered her a hand and she followed him. "I've got two news to tell you. One is good and the other is bad. Which one do you want to hear first?" he asked while they walked away from the school.

"The good one, please." Kagome said after allowing him to wrap one hand around her waist.

"I invite you to a dinner tomorrow." he said seriously and when he saw her smile, he grinned. "You agree?"

"Mhm." Kagome just mumbled, not really daring to look him in the eyes. She just didn't want to feed his already overgrown ego by blushing again because of him. "Tell me the bad news now." she hurried to say before he made some smart remark about her behavior.

"I'm flying back to New York tomorrow night." he said, disappointment apparent in his voice, and Kagome snapped her head up to look at him.

"Really?" she asked sadly.

"Yeah. My family is moving to Chicago and I'm no longer a part of the student exchange program." he explained calmly.

Kagome sighed and hung her head down. She knew that he wasn't going to stay in Tokyo forever but it was just too soon and sudden. This was his fourth day here and it wasn't fair. She sighed again and felt herself get angry at his family. Wasn't there a way for him to stay a little longer? Tears of frustration started to well up in her eyes and she fisted her hands. Suddenly something inside of her seemed to snap and she frowned.

'What am I doing getting so depressed about him?' she asked herself, feeling rather stupid for almost crying for practically a stranger. Then she lifted her head and the moment their eyes met, she felt like something very heavy had hit her in the head.

"Kagome, you ok?" Kai asked concerned and stopped walking, seeing her slightly unfocused eyes.

Kagome felt weak in the knees and started to slide down but Kai held her around her waist. She could feel him shaking her and heard him call her name but his voice seamed so distant, slowly fading away. Finally, after about five minutes, she started to come back to her senses and her blurred vision cleared. She looked in his eyes and seeing again that strange flash seemed to calm her. Not really thinking what she was doing, she leaned on his chest and relaxed.

"I'm fine now." she mumbled after a worried question from Kai about how she was feeling.

"You are sick again, aren't you?" he asked and pushed her slightly away to look at her face.

"I don't know..." she said weakly.

"You didn't have to come if you felt bad." the boy scowled at her and she looked sadly at him. "Come on, I'll take you home." he said and she silently agreed.

"Let's sit here for a while." Kagome suggested when they reached the stairs to the shrine.

"Ok." Kai shrugged and helped her sit down, then followed her. "How are you feeling?" he asked and touched her forehead with the back of his hand to see if she had a fever.

"I'm alright." she smiled at him and leaned on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I lost your time."

"Hey, that's not a reason to apologize for!" Kai said and made her look at him by holding his hand under her chin. "I really like being with you."

"Really?" she asked a little shakily, nervous by the closeness of their faces.

"Who wouldn't want?" he asked, his voice low and soft.

"I wish Inuyasha was like you..." Kagome whispered, not really thinking about what she was saying.

"Too bad for him then..." Kai whispered back and leaned closer to her.

His head lowered slowly to hers, as if wanting to see if she would pull away. When she didn't protest and even closed her eyes, her lips slightly apart, Kai took this as a sign to continue. His lips just touched hers lightly, he didn't press her too mush afraid that he might scare her off or she might remember about her boyfriend. He was about to pull away when he felt her lean toward him. She felt him smirk against her lips and caught herself, backing away a little.

"Kai..." she started breathlessly but he interrupted her by placing his hands on both sides of her face and pulling her again toward him.

The second kiss that followed wasn't like the first tender and gentle one. This time he added more force – he kissed her hard, trying to taste her. Taken by surprise, Kagome's lips parted and he ran his tongue over her teeth, encouraging her to open her mouth to his. She obeyed to his demand and felt like the whole world around her was spinning. A powerful and overwhelming feeling of calmness washed over her – like she had removed a great weight from her shoulders.

Not caring what she was doing, she shyly moved her tongue into Kai's mouth, following his lead and deepening the kiss even more. When it was over he pushed her slightly away and smirked at her, seeing her flushed face. If Kagome wasn't so dazed she would've gotten really angry at him because of his arrogant behavior. She blinked a few times and quickly turned her head aside.

"You seem to have practiced a lot with that Inuyasha." Kai said mockingly.

"Actually we've kissed only once." she said quietly, talking only about the kiss in Kaguya's castle.

"What kind of an idiot is he?" the American boy laughed and stood up.

Kagome lifted her head to look at him wide-eyed in surprise. She stared at him for a moment, before seeing that he was offering a hand to her to help her stand up. She took it and he pulled her up so that she came close enough for their lips to touch. This time she didn't feel even a bit of attraction toward him and backed away a little. All this seemed strange to her but she thought that she was just tired.

"I will be going now." she said and turned to leave, but Kai held her hand.

"I'll come to take you tomorrow at six, ok?" he said smiling.

"Ok." Kagome smiled back and he let her go.

When she entered the house even her grandfather wasn't at home. She sighed in annoyance for being left alone and walked to her room, yawning at least ten times until she got there. This tiredness was so sudden that she wondered if she wasn't possessed by a dream demon too. Not really having the strength to think about anything at all, Kagome just slumped on her bed and immediately fell asleep.

Back in Feudal Japan, our group of friends was sitting around the fire in Kaede's hut. The sun had already set but the old Miko still hadn't returned. A man from the village had come earlier and told them that she had decided to spend the night tending to his sick wife. The villager had also said something about an angry and unreasonable hanyou but hadn't really understood what it meant. However, Miroku and the others knew perfectly well what Kaede was afraid of, and actually they were too.

"So, he's most likely to wake up tonight?" Sango asked stroking Kirara's fur as the small cat demon was lying in her lap.

"Yes." Miroku nodded and glanced at the still unmoving like a statue hanyou.

"And how do you know that?" Shippo, who was sitting in front of Inuyasha, asked. "I mean, didn't you say that he was going to be like this for a week?"

"I know I said that, Shippo." the monk turned to the kitsune that was starting to get really annoying with all his questions.

"So? Only three days have passed." the kid insisted and sighing heavily, Miroku decided to explain.

"Alright, I'll start from the beginning." he said and shifted to sit more comfortably. "The ofuda on Inuyasha's forehead serves as an energy drainer. It drains the energy the dream demon feeds of, in Inuyasha's case – his demon powers. When all the energy is drained the demon dies and the victim wakes up."

"Oh, now I get it." Shippo nodded and looked at his hanyou friend. "Now there are no demon powers in him and that's why he is human, and he will wake up, right?"

"Yes." Miroku nodded and wondered how much stupid someone could be to have to ask such questions. But when he thought about it, Shippo was still just a kid.

"But he's going to turn back to his hanyou form, right?" Sango asked concerned.

"Of course." the monk said. "After a day or two..."

Suddenly a quiet groan was heard and everybody turned toward Inuyasha. They all went closer to him and saw the ofuda fall in his lap. Then his whole body seemed to relax and he fell to his right side on the floor. Miroku and Sango moved him to lie next to the fire and let him sleep. They didn't really want to face the angry and unreasonable hanyou Kaede had talked about.

TBC


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Kagome woke up in such a panic that she accidentally rolled over and fell off of her bed. Apparently, nobody was at home as nobody came to see what had happened to the girl – she made a hell of a noise breaking her night lamp. She hit herself pretty hard but that seemed to be her least concern right now. Breathing heavy and wincing in pain from the fall, she managed to climb back up on her bed.

"Oh my God." Kagome squeaked and held her right hand over her mouth. "What have I done?!" she asked herself over and over again, her eyes wide and her voice quiet and shaky. "I kissed Kai!" she almost cried.

While she sat on her bed, her mind raced through her memories of the passed few days. As she thought about Kai, she just couldn't understand what she had found so attracting about him. He sure was handsome but he definitely wasn't her type. He wasn't Inuyasha for God's sake! Everything about him seemed so distant and unreal to her, like the girl from the last few days wasn't her. And what the hell had made her kiss him in the first place?

Suddenly all the feelings she had for Inuyasha and the realization that what she had done was actually sort of betrayal to him, came crashing down on her. She burst out in tears, her whole body shaking from her sobbing and holding her hands on her face. Now she felt ashamed of herself, she felt like the biggest idiot in the whole world. In her point of view, that was really messed up right now, she had cheated on Inuyasha and practically played with Kai's feelings.

"Wh-What a-a mess..." she hiccupped, while whipping her tears away but with no success as more came. After almost an hour of crying her whole face and hands were wet, her eyes were puffy and red and she felt dizzy and lightheaded. "It serves me right." she hiccupped again and stood up to go to the bathroom.

After taking a warm and refreshing bath, Kagome decided to go to Feudal Japan to see how her friends were doing. She felt terribly guilty for not visiting Inuyasha for four days and practically forgetting about him. So, to visit him was the least she could do. She also wanted to talk with Kaede and Miroku about her strange behavior. Now, when she was calmer, she knew perfectly well that something had been wrong with her.

'Was it because of Kai?' she thought, while putting on her school uniform. 'But if that's the case, then why did I snap out of this now?' she asked herself and went downstairs. 'Was it because of the kiss?' thinking about that she immediately felt angry at herself.

As she was putting on her shoes, ready to go out, the door opened and her whole family entered. Hr grandfather and brother seemed busy arguing about an ineffective sealing scroll and passed by her not noticing that she was going out. Only her mother saw her thoughtful and concerned expression and decided that there was something wrong, that she hoped she could help with.

"Kagome, is everything alright?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, walking closer to her daughter.

"Yes, mama." the girl assured her mother and headed toward the door.

"And where do you think you are going, my dear?" the woman asked and Kagome turned to look at her confused.

"To see Inuyasha." she said and frowned. "I told you that he was sick, didn't I?"

"Yes, but you have also told me that many demons walk in the forest on the other side." Mrs. Higurashi explained calmly and with a warm smile.

"But they come out only when it's dark." Kagome tried to reason with her mother to let her go.

"There are so many windows in the house, my dear." the woman said and walked away, toward the kitchen, but not before saying over her shoulder "Look outside."

Kagome immediately ran outside and with disappointment and despair saw that the sun was setting and it would be already dark on the other side when she would get there. She frowned realizing that she had actually slept the whole day. Now this was the last prove that something had really been wrong with her. Deciding that the first thing in the next morning she would do is to go to the past, she walked back inside the house. She also had to think of a way to apologize to Kai and find a suitable explanation for her behavior.

'One thing's for sure.' she thought. 'I won't tell Inuyasha that I kissed him and Kai. Knowing him, he would probably freak out.'

On the other side of the well the night had been worse than Hell for the people in Kaede's hut. No sooner after Miroku and Sango had moved Inuyasha to lie next to the fire, he had woken up. Considering his behavior he had felt really terribly – his whole body had been stiff and he couldn't have made a single motion without groaning in pain. At first, trying to save his pride, he had managed to stay quiet but with the passing hours the pain of his accidental movements seemed to become stronger.

It was close to sunrise and the hanyou had finally quieted down. His friends were finally able to rest, but just for a little while. They knew that he would be feeling better soon, by noon as Miroku had predicted earlier, and would want explanations and most likely he will want to go to Kagome's time to bring her back. But for now he was peacefully sleeping, exhausted from his all night's useless struggles to move himself.

"I've been thinking about something, Sango." Miroku turned to her, as only he and the demon exterminator had woken up after a few hours of sleep.

"What is it?" the young woman asked and yawned.

"There's another possible reason for Inuyasha to wake up so soon." he said and looked at the hanyou. Sango looked at him expectantly and he continued. "The demon could have exited his body before it was killed."

"No, Houshi-sama, that's not possible." Sango said and waved one hand dismissively. "I mean, nobody of us is possessed..." then she realized that one person from their group wasn't there.

"We can't say the same thing for Kagome-sama." Miroku voiced out her concern. "Don't you think it's a little strange that she hasn't come to see Inuyasha?"

"That's true." the demon exterminator said worriedly. "What are we going to do now?"

"We can't go through the well, so we will have to wait for Inuyasha to get better." the monk explained. "And hope that Kagome-sama is alright."

Although he sounded calm and unshaken, Sango knew that he was also worried. After her outburst in the forest, when they were worried about Inuyasha, she had realized just how much he valued his friends. And in situations like this the most important thing was to remain calm. There was nothing good in panicking and losing all sense of clear thought.

As Miroku had assumed, Inuyasha started to wake up around noon. He groaned a few times, while slowly sitting up. The hut was empty and he was alone. With great effort he managed to crawl toward the door, hoping that nobody would see him in that embarrassing position. Fortunately for his extremely shaken dignity, there was nobody outside. He looked around and tried to sniff. Frowning, he realized that his sense of smell was extremely weakened, if not completely gone.

"What the hell..." he mumbled and reached to his hair. Seeing that it was black and that there were no claws on his fingers – just the pathetic human nails, he felt like killing someone. Then he remembered something about an ofuda being thrown at him and his victim became known. "So, that perverted bouzu did something to me..."

"Oh, Inuyasha, you're awake." Miroku's voice startled him and he spun his head in the direction the voice was coming from.

"Why you..." the hanyou tried to growl, although being a human it didn't sound so threatening, and the monk frowned. "What have you done to me?"

Realizing what was making Inuyasha so aggressive and glad that his friend hadn't lost his mind Miroku sighed and walked to him. "Calm down, Inuyasha, and let's get inside. I'll explain you everything." he said calmly and helped the hanyou crawl back in the hut.

When Sango, Shippo and Kirara returned it was late evening. They explained that they had stayed the whole day with Kaede to help her with the villager's sick wife. Miroku had explained everything that happened to Inuyasha, and his friends came back right in time to help him stop the hanyou from going to find Kagome, maybe for a tenth time today.

"Fine." Inuyasha snapped, lying on the floor on his stomach, while Shippo and Kirara were walking on his back – sort of massaging him. "I'll stay here tonight but don't you dare stop me tomorrow."

"Don't worry, we won't." Miroku assured him.

"You are not the only one that's worried about Kagome-chan." Sango added.

"Feh. It doesn't look like tha... Ow!" he yelped as Shippo stepped on a rather painful spot on his waist. "Watch what you're doing, runt!"

"And you watch what you're talking." the small kitsune snapped and Kirara mewed in agreement.

"Keh. Whatever." Inuyasha mumbled and closed his eyes.

The morning came fast for Kagome and she just couldn't wait for the sun to rise up. She wanted to go to see Inuyasha as soon as possible. However, she was going to wait for a little longer as her mother did a pretty good job delaying her leaving by making her have breakfast. As she was going out the phone rang and Mrs. Higurashi called her back inside.

Walking toward her school, Kagome miserably thought that her life couldn't get worse than that. Her math teacher had called and said that she had to go to school if she didn't want to fail on her tests. Hadn't he told her that she didn't have to worry about them? Why was he making her take them now? Maybe because Kai wasn't in that student exchange program anymore?

'Oh, well...' she sighed and entered the school building. 'I hope I won't fail this time too.'

The crazy mathematician, like Kai had once called him, made Kagome stay at school the whole day. Fortunately for her she didn't make any tests, he just took her to the principal to have a talk with her about Kai and if he had been acting properly, whatever that meant. Then she had to go to every one of her other teachers and explain to them what kind of person he was.

This all seemed very stupid to her and she decided to ask the principal. She told her that there was still a way for Kai to stay in Japan, if the other teachers decided that he was not some troublesome boy who had come only for fun. Hearing such an answer, made Kagome want to cry. Right now the last thing that she wanted was to be seeing Kai for another week in school. But then a happy thought crossed her mind.

'I can always pretend to be sick and stay with Inuyasha!' she thought and found herself smiling, but also received an odd look from the principal. 'Well, I'm sure that she already thinks that I'm not alright...'

It was about four o'clock when she finally got home. Although she felt more exhausted than ever before, she wasn't going to waste anymore time and go to the past. She had even decided not to wait for Kai – after all she was sure that he was going to stay in Japan for a little longer and she could talk with him later. Also, more important for her was Inuyasha and she wasn't going to ignore him like that ever again.

As she was climbing up the stairs to the shrine, she saw that someone was standing at the last stair. The sun was shining in her eyes and she couldn't see who that person was. It couldn't be Kai because it was still early and it certainly wasn't somebody from her family. It wasn't Inuyasha either – the man, she was sure of this, wasn't with long hair like that hanyou's. She didn't stop walking and soon the man's face became visible.

"Kai, what are you doing here?" she asked as she recognized him. "It's still early..."

He didn't answer and walked toward her. She was going to continue talking but he grabbed her by the right arm and started dragging her down the stairs again. She struggled to free herself and screamed for him to let her go but he didn't listen. Strangely, the people they passed by when he started dragging her down the street didn't seem to notice them. The complete shock came when crossing the street the cars went through their bodies. It was like they were ghosts.

"What is happening?" Kagome yelled and again tried to pull away from his strong grip. "Let me go!"

TBC


	16. Chapter Sixteen

It was unusually noisy at Kaede's hut this morning and even people from the village were gathering to see what was happening. In front of the hut a certain demon exterminator was yelling angry at a certain monk, who was desperately trying to calm her down. The sight was very comical for the villagers but if they knew all the details they wouldn't even think of laughing.

"Sango, take it easy!" the monk held the furious woman's shoulders and tried to push her back. "You won't help anybody if you go and 'beat the shit out of him'." he tried to reason with her, emphasizing on his last words. "Besides, such speech is not for your beautiful..."

"Get out of my way!" the demon exterminator pushed him to the side and stomped toward the hut.

"Sango!" Miroku and Shippo, who was standing in front of the hut with Kirara, yelled and the monk caught her right hand to stop her.

"How can he be such an idiot?!" she yelled and turned toward the young man behind her.

"Well, he can be even a bigger one when it's about Kagome-sama." he said calmly.

"Yeah, nobody can beat him in that." Shippo called from his post in front of the door and Kirara mewed in agreement.

Sango sighed in defeat and hung her head down. Without saying anything, she went to sit on the stairs that led to the village's shrine, pulling Miroku after her. Seeing that there was no more danger for Inuyasha, Shippo and Kirara left their guarding place and followed their friends. They sat silent for a while and deciding to try and cheer them up, the small kitsune laughed.

"What's so funny?" Sango asked weakly.

"If we leave everything else aside, don't you think that Kaede is one sneaky old hag?" the kid asked and a small smile found its way to Miroku's lips.

"You're right, Shippo." the monk said and glanced at the woman next to him for a moment, to see her reaction. When she continued to stare at the ground indifferently, he spoke again. "It was very mean of her to leave us alone with Inuyasha."

"Yeah, she really ain't gonna get away with this when he wakes up. I'll make sure of that!" Shippo added and also looked at Sango.

"And you 'ain't gonna' live long if Kagome-chan hears how you talk about Kaede-baachan." the demon exterminator finally decided to step in the conversation.

"Inuyasha talks like that all the time." the small kitsune tried to defend himself. "She hasn't killed him, yet." he said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"But she sits him." Miroku said absently, as if not really paying attention to what they were talking about.

"In your case, you probably won't get any chocolate from now on." Sango added.

"Oh come on, guys!" Shippo almost whined. "You're upset that you couldn't make Inuyasha sleep last night and now you're making me pay for that!" he said angry and turned his back on them.

"I'm sorry, Shippo-chan." the demon exterminator said softly and nudged Miroku to say something too.

"Y-Yea..." he stuttered. "We didn't want it to sound like that."

"Don't be mad at us, ok?" Sango picked him up and made him sit in her lap.

Shippo pouted for a while and he really had a good reason for that. If he was right for something, it was that his two human friends were the ones to blame for Inuyasha's oversleep. He had tricked them into falling asleep before him by pretending to be asleep himself. The stubborn hanyou had remained awake the whole night, afraid that if he falls asleep he wouldn't wake up in time and probably loose at least half of the day.

Although his friends knew him well enough to predict what his intentions were, they didn't do anything at all. They should have at least suspected something – after he agreed to rest so easily. If Shippo and Kirara hadn't been with Kaede to help her with that villager's sick wife, they would have noticed that their hanyou friend was pretending to be sleeping and would have done something.

When the two small demons had returned in the morning, Inuyasha was jus falling asleep and they couldn't do anything to keep him awake. Because of staying awake all night his energy hadn't been restored and he was still human, and on top of everything, whatever his friends did they just couldn't wake him up. Eventually, that was what caused Sango's anger and the noise in the hut. The people that had gathered to see what was happening quickly went away when everything quieted.

"Hey, Houshi-sama." Sango said after a while. Shippo had fallen asleep in her lap and she was whispering. "Did you tell Inuyasha how Kagome-chan must've been possessed?" she asked when he turned to look at her. "I mean, he deserves to know..."

"Do you really want him to freak out and probably ruin everything by getting embarrassed?" the monk asked incredulously, although he would've given almost everything to see the hanyou's expression if he knew that Kagome had kissed him.

"You're right." the demon exterminator agreed with him and bit her lip, imagining the same as Miroku – Inuyasha's reaction.

"Well, we must not forget that it's not necessary that Kagome-sama is possessed." the monk added thoughtfully. "Inuyasha may have been really exhausted and that's why he ofuda drained his energy so fast."

"That's an option too." Sango nodded and stroke Kirara's head, as the small cat demon climbed on her shoulder. "I just hope that he wakes up soon."

A few hours later Miroku and Sango were sitting in front of the hut, waiting for Kaede to return. Shippo and Kirara had gone to tell her to come back and to try to wake Inuyasha up. It was around noon and he still hadn't shown any sigh of waking up. The only good thing was that his demon powers were slowly restoring – his claws and fangs were back and his hair was white again.

"Houshi-sama," the demon exterminator said and waited for him to answer.

"Yes, Sango?" the monk asked, his voice muffled from his hands on his face.

"Inuyasha started acting strange even before he got possessed." she started and Miroku stiffened, knowing where this conversation might lead. "Haven't you noticed?"

"Mhm..." was the only answer he gave her without lifting his head from his hands, he didn't really want to face her right now.

"I think you know why." that, let's say accusation, caught him completely unprepared and he almost choked and started coughing. "I knew it!" she said in triumph and gave him a threatening look that left him no chance to deny.

"I-I don't think I-I should talk to you a-about that." the monk stuttered and tried to stand up but she caught his hand and held him down.

"Don't test my patience, Houshi-sama." she smiled at him and he gulped.

"Inuyasha loves Kagome-sama." Miroku said it so fast that Sango almost didn't understand him...almost.

"What?" she squeaked, her eyes wide in shock.

"You heard me." the monk nodded his head firmly.

"How do you know that?" the demon exterminator eyed him suspiciously.

"He told me and asked me what he should do." he explained and Sango held her head with one hand, the other on his shoulder.

"I just can't believe it!" she exclaimed. "So, until now he's been trying to tell her? And that's why he was acting so idiotic?" Miroku nodded at her questions and then Kaede, Shippo and Kirara appeared at the far side of the road.

"We'd better not tell them" the monk suggested and Sango nodded her head several times.

Inuyasha really didn't have luck these days – either the Gods hated him or he was cursed, or maybe it was both. Kaede was a good Miko, there was no doubt about that, but she was also a human and humans sometimes make mistakes. Being over-exhausted because of not sleeping for two days and two nights, instead of boiling an awakening herb she boiled one that makes people sleep. The smell that the herb gave off made everybody in the hut fall asleep.

Sango woke up first. She immediately bolted up and frantically started to shake Miroku. After a few minutes he also started to wake up. She let him come to his senses and gather his thoughts and that's when she looked outside. It looked like it was early evening and she almost fainted – they had lost the whole day, well the bigger part of it.

A weak groan caught her attention and she turned to look at Inuyasha. She nudged Miroku to stop complaining and to be quiet and he also looked at the hanyou. When he stirred and shifted to lie on his left side, facing them, they immediately rushed to him. After a few minutes the hanyou was violently shaken out of his dreams and practically kicked out of the hut to go and save Kagome.

Inuyasha ran toward the well at top speed, cursing loudly his stupidity. Miroku and Sango had told him that he had slept the whole day and if he didn't have to go to Kagome he would have gladly smacked his head in some tree. At least he was in his hanyou form now and it would be easier to help the girl from the future, if she was in danger. Yes, he still hoped that she wasn't possessed and that was giving him more strength.

When he exited the well on the other side, there was nobody around. He sniffed the air and caught Kagome's scent – she was coming come. He sighed in relief and rubbed his sweaty forehead. For him there was no other place that she must have been except to her school and the fact that she was actually able to go there, by herself, was calming enough. He thanked God that she wasn't hurt and then he caught another scent.

He quickly exited the small well-shrine and walked toward the stairs. That scent was kind of giving him the creeps and he involuntary shivered when it got stronger the more he neared it. When the stairs came in his view he halted and hid behind a small storage house. That reaction was absolutely unexplainable and he even wondered if he wasn't going insane. But one thing was for sure and it made him growl – an about 16-years old boy that had Kagome's scent on him was standing at the stairs.

Inuyasha was so lost in his thoughts of why the hell was his girl's scent on this stupid weak human, that he didn't notice when the boy had started going down the stairs. Hearing the sound of his footsteps move away, he snapped his head up and fallowed him. What he saw made him angrier than he had ever been in his entire life – the boy had caught Kagome's arm and was dragging her toward the street and she was yelling him to stop. As Inuyasha was about to leap after them, they suddenly disappeared.

"What the hell..." he looked around and when he didn't see them he started to panic. "Kagome!" he yelled but nobody answered him.

Inuyasha fisted his hands and held them trembling by his sides. It took a great deal of his control to keep his temper. He closed his eyes and bent his head down. 'Concentrate,' he thought. 'It must be me... I'm just still not well enough...' he took a deep calming breath and shut his eyes tighter, then released it. 'Now, when I open my eyes they will be there.' with that he opened his eyes but didn't lift his head. Instead he stared at the black stands of hair that were hanging in front of his face.

"Oh, fuck you!" he yelled and looked at his hands – there were no claws on his fingers. "Give me a break!" he shouted toward the sky and an interesting thought went through his mind.

'What if that boy is a demon and did something so no human could see them?' this sent cold chills down his spine and he closed his eyes trying to concentrate enough to be able to hold his anger under control. It was obviously that the more emotional he was the more energy he spent. As he stayed still he felt a strong pulse in his body and opened his eyes just in time to see Kagome and the boy cross the street.

Inuyasha nearly lost it again when he saw that a car was about to hit them, but it went right through their bodies without hurting them and he relaxed. Then they disappeared again but at least their scent remained and he fallowed it without a second thought. The only thing that he could think of was that he had to save Kagome.

TBC


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Kagome and Kai were now walking through the nearby park. She had stopped shouting and struggling to free herself, it was just no use. Kai was holding her too tight and her arm was starting to feel a little numb. The only thing that she could accomplish by continuing her attempts to escape would be to hurt herself even more. So, she had decided to wait and see where he would take her and then try to run away.

Although at this time of the day the park usually was full of kids, coming back from school with their parents, Kagome couldn't see anybody. It was like all the people had run away. She started worriedly looking around and a hard tug on her arm brought her back to reality. When she turned to look at Kai, he was smirking at her, then he again looked ahead.

"Such a stupid girl..." he said quietly, amusement in his voice.

"Excuse me?" Kagome spun her head to stare at him angrily. Despite the dangerous situation she was in, she just couldn't ignore an insult like this. "Who are you? What have you done with Kai?" she demanded, well aware that the person that was dragging her through the park wasn't the American boy.

"Oh, he's fine." the boy answered with the same arrogant smirk. "My name is Shamashir. I'm just borrowing his body while he's asleep."

A surprised gasp escaped her lips as she realized who this Shamashir might be. It was unusual for her but she cursed herself for her stupidity – she had the bad feeling that everything was her fault and she just couldn't seem to find a way out of this mess. "H-How?" she asked shakily.

"I think you already know that, my dear." Shamashir laughed.

"The kiss..." Kagome whispered and just now she remembered that, back in Feudal Japan, when she and Kaede were trying to save Inuyasha, the old Miko had warned her to stay away from the hanyou's mouth. "I really am an idiot..."

Suddenly Shamashir stopped and held her in front of him, grabbing her other arm too. She screamed and tried to pull herself away from him, but the hard shake he gave her made her stop and look up at him. He was smirking, again, and that gave her an uneasy feeling. What was he going to do with her? Was he going to kill her?

Instead of doing all the horrible things that Kagome imagined, he just spoke. "That strange flash that seemed to calm you so much was simply my powers, reflected from your eyes in Kai's." he explained, his voice low and somehow threatening. "You see, Kai is one very troubled young man. He was very easy to make connection with."

"That f-flash in his eyes was your c-connection?" Kagome whispered, not trusting her voice to speak louder. "That's why I was so..." her words died in her throat as he leaned toward her.

His face came so close that their lips seemed less than a breath apart from one another. "I must say that it was a lot easier to make you kiss Inuyasha." he said and backed away a little. "After all, you were already very attracted to him." with that he let her left arm go and pulled her again toward the exit of the park.

Inuyasha jumped from tree to tree, trying to make as little noise as possible, and boy was he succeeding! Not a single leaf rustled as he leaped on the branches. He kept cursing everything and everybody – there were just too many people in that park, too many scents, and the place was too unfamiliar to him. In his frustration he was obviously not paying attention that he was slowly loosing his transformation and was turning human.

Suddenly he saw them. They had stopped in the middle of the alley and seemed to be talking. The other people still couldn't see them but that didn't matter to him right now. Inuyasha prepared to leap at them, not caring that he might and most definitely would be seen, but then something happened. Kagome and the boy disappeared and in his surprise the hanyou fell off of the tree.

As he was getting up, Inuyasha noticed that he was human again and that was probably why he couldn't see them anymore. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he repeated, oblivious to the curious looks the people on the alley were giving him. "I decided to stay calm, damn it!" he reminded himself angrily and as he concentrated he felt his powers come back. Before the people could see how he looked as a hanyou, he was up in trees again.

He saw Kagome and the boy just when Shamashir pulled away from her and started dragging her after him. Then they disappeared again. This time Inuyasha was careful not to get angry, well not too much angry, and followed their scents. He could easily catch up with them now but he didn't have even the slightest idea of how to actually get them – he couldn't see them, he couldn't touch them. The only thing he could do now was to follow them and wait for a good opportunity to attack.

'Where is he taking her?' the hanyou wondered and made a mental note to make Kagome show him around the city, just in case if she gets kidnapped again. 'That stupid girl will never learn to stay out of...' his train of thought was interrupted as he slipped and almost fell, while jumping to another tree branch. 'Stay focused...' he reminded himself.

Soon enough he reached the exit of the park and sniffed the air to see where Kagome and the boy had gone. They had turned right and he followed them. Luckily for him there weren't any people around and he could freely walk on the pavement. The way he was heading was getting kind of deserted and he started to worry. There were large buildings that he had heard from Souta were hangars, and large yellow machines – if he remembered right they were called cranes.

As he was looking around he suddenly lost Kagome's scent. He quickly checked if he was again human but he wasn't – his claws were there, his fangs and ears too, his hair was white. Panic started to rise in him and this time he didn't care if he would loose the transformation. He would even prefer to face that who-knows-what-demon in human form than loose Kagome. Deciding that he mustn't give up, he started checking the closest hangars to where he had last smelled her.

"Very interesting..." Shamashir said and pushed Kagome in one of the hangars.

She fell on the ground and tried to stand up and run away, while he was closing the door, but he caught her and pushed her down again. "Let me go you..." she started but was cut short when he turned to look at her. It was such a cold and threatening look that she hadn't seen even from Sesshoumaru, and it left her stunned.

"It seems that Inuyasha has been following us." he said calmly and closed the door.

Hearing his name, Kagome's eyes widened and she felt a sudden rush of courage. Not caring what Shamashir would do, she cried the hanyou's name and ran toward the door. Obviously the demon was expecting her to try to escape and was immediately on her way, catching her around the waist and pushing her back. This time she didn't fell and he laughed when she made another attempt to escape.

"Let me go! Inuyasha!" the girl shouted and struggled to get free from Shamashir's hands. "Don't touch me, you ugly, disgusting... Inuyasha!"

"He can't hear you." the demon said, satisfied when she stared at him wide-eyed in fear. "Nobody can..." but then she started shouting all over again, and when he covered her mouth she bit his hand. "Bitch!" he hissed and slapped her in the face with the back of his other hand.

Kagome screamed and fell on the ground, unconscious. Her cheek, where Shamashir had hit her, immediately reddened and a small trickle of blood appeared from the corner of her mouth. The demon grunted, holding his injured hand and licked the blood away. He then picked her up and took her deeper in the hangar. He placed her on a pile of sacks filled with cement and sat on another pile, across of her.

"Too bad that she has to be awake to suck her energy." the demon said and rested his head on his hands. "There's nothing to worry about, anyway. That hanyou of hers won't find us soon." he assured himself and closed his eyes.

As Inuyasha was checking one of the hangars, he heard a scream. It was defiantly Kagome – he had heard her screams more than enough times to recognize her, and he was immediately out of the hangar. He stood outside and sniffed the air but there was nothing. No matter how he hated to even think about it, Inuyasha wished that she screamed again. If she did that he would be able to say where she was but it would also mean that the damned boy was hurting her.

Unconsciously, Inuyasha started growling. His eyes inspected every centimeter of the perimeter, his ears kept twitching to try to catch any suspicious sound. Nothing, there was noting he could use to find her. Then he caught a faint familiar scent and it sent cold chills down his spine. Although she hadn't been hurt so bad as to bleed often in the past, Inuyasha knew how her blood smelled and now he knew from where the scent was coming.

Without a second thought, he ran toward the hangar where she and Shamashir had entered. Not wasting time to open the door, Inuyasha just crashed through it and landed in a fighting position, his hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt. "Kagome!" he shouted and looked around, ready to jump on everyone who opposed him.

Hearing the loud noise from Inuyasha's entrance, Shamashir's head snapped up. When the hanyou yelled Kagome's name he immediately stood up and silently crept toward the door, hiding behind some construction materials piled up around. He knew that Inuyasha couldn't see him but still remained hidden. 'I have to hold the barrier until the moon rises.' the demon thought and turned to go back to his hostage. 'Then I'll take her energy and kill the bastard that almost destroyed me.'

"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled again, walking around in the large building. He had looked everywhere but he just couldn't seem to find her. The scent of her blood was driving him crazy and he was starting to lose control. "Damn you, fucking piece of shit! Show yourself!" he drew Tetsusaiga out and hit a large pile of iron bars. "If you do something to Kagome, I'm gonna gut you alive and feed you with..."

Suddenly there was a faint moan that immediately caught his attention and he spun around toward two piles of sacks, filled with something that smelled pretty heavy and unpleasant. He listened carefully for a moment and stepped closer. 'That was Kagome, I'm sure...' the hanyou thought and gripped his sword harder, ready to slice in two the kidnapper.

As Shamashir was just sitting down, after he had left Inuyasha, he saw Kagome move her head. Before he could go to her and make sure that she stays quiet, she moaned and started to wake up. The demon stopped and turned to look at the hanyou who was intently staring at them. He couldn't see them but he had definitely heard the girl's moan. Not wasting anymore time, Shamashir went to Kagome, with the intention to make sure she doesn't give their position out.

Just as he was reaching to place one hand over her mouth, Kagome's eyes shot open and she tried to back away. "Shashir..." she said, her voice a little raspy. "Get away from me..." then with the corner of her eyes she spotted the hanyou. "Inuyasha!" she found her voice to scream at him. Before she could do more, the demon was by her side and was holding her throat. She choked, trying to take a proper breath and gripped his hand, leaving red marks with her nails.

"Nice try, my dear." he whispered close to her left ear. "Just one thing – my name is Shamashir, not Shashir..." he said and tightened his grip on her throat.

Inuyasha had heard her scream his name and now he was sure that they were somewhere near the pile of sacks in front of him. He tried to concentrate to see them but with no luck. Then she screamed again. Until now he had been angry, better said – enraged, that someone had taken the girl he loved. But as he stood there, helpless, while that someone was hurting her a strange desperation started to rise in him. He felt like he was going to explode, he just couldn't take it anymore.

"Kagome!" he shouted, unknowingly running toward her. "Where are you? Please, show yourself!" he stopped and started frantically turning around.

She was suffocating, her vision was getting blurry and her mind was being overwhelmed with strange fogginess. Se could barely recognize the desperate hanyou that was almost a step away from her, but couldn't see her. Shamashir wasn't really paying attention that he was actually about to kill the person from whom he wanted to take the energy to be able to materialize without using a host body, and in fact he was having the fun of his life.

'No...' Kagome thought and as her grip on his hand had loosened she tightened it again. 'I'm not gonna...give up so...easily!' she shouted in her mind and forced all of her remaining strength out of her body. She didn't know how she did that but it worked – her hands started glowing in pink light and with a scream she sent a powerful energy charge at Shamashir.

The demon was thrown back at the wall and crashed so hard that he lost consciousness. Kagome fell on her knees on the ground and started coughing. Inuyasha had seen what she had done and was just staring at her in disbelief. As she calmed down he finally came back to his senses and when she looked at him the rush of emotions overwhelmed him and he lost his hanyou transformation, turning into human. Tetsusaiga transformed back to an old and battered sword and he let it fall on the ground.

"I-Inuyasha?" Kagome looked up at him in question, not understanding what was happening to him.

Without saying a single word he walked toward her and lifted her up. Not waiting her to steady herself on her feet, he crushed her in his, a little too clumsy, but strong and warm embrace. He sighed in her hair and did another thing that surprised her even more – he thanked her for being alive, he literally pleaded with her not to scare him like that anymore. Those unexpected words made her want to melt in his arms and she hugged him back, promising him that she wasn't going to leave him anymore.

TBC


	18. Chapter Eighteen

He was breathing heavy, his warm breath tickling her neck. Kagome almost swooned in his arms and wished that they stayed like that for a little while. But although she was feeling very comfortable, she had to know what was happening to him. He had just turned human for practically no good reason and that definitely wasn't normal. His hold on her had gradually started to loosen as he calmed down and she tried to pull away, but the moment she did so his arms tightened around her.

"Inuyasha..." she started, seeing that he had absolutely no intention of letting her go. "Inuyasha, what's happening to you? Why did you turn human?" she asked and he sighed.

"Miroku's ofuda drained my energy and now my demon powers are unstable." the hanyou explained quietly, his breath making her shiver slightly.

"But except that..." she had to swallow and clear her throat to be able to continue. "You're ok, right?" she asked, moving her hands so that they were on his chest.

"Yes." he answered.

"Me too, so..." she said a little hesitantly. "...you can let me go now."

"Oh..." Inuyasha suddenly pulled away, started and slightly blushing. "Sorry..."

"No, there's nothing to be sorry about." Kagome protested and sighed, rubbing her forehead and moving her bangs off of it. Then she smiled at him and continued. "If I hadn't seen you I wouldn't have done that with my powers."

"By the way, how did you do that?" the hanyou asked slightly confused and looked behind her, at the unconscious Shamashir.

"Honestly, I have no idea." she shrugged and turned toward him. Then something seemed to come to her mind and she bit her bottom lip, turning back to Inuyasha. "Is... Is he alive?" she asked shakily.

"Yeah." the hanyou absently waved one hand. "Why do you care, anyway? He almost killed you."

"Kai has noting to do with all this. Shashir is just using his body." Kagome explained.

"Is he a friend of yours?" Inuyasha asked while walking toward the demon.

"K-Kind of..." she answered nervously, remembering how she had kissed him and praying that the hanyou never learns about that. "What are we going to do now?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't know..." Inuyasha shrugged, then after looking at Shamashir turned toward her again. "Maybe you killed that Shashir with your powers and Kai is alright now. We'll take him to..." his words trailed off when he saw Kagome's eyes widen and she raised one hand to point behind him. Not waiting for her to say whatever she was going to, he spun around and found himself face to face with Shamashir.

The demon smirked and pointed something in his stomach. Suddenly Inuyasha was hit by a strange feeling of danger and transforming to hanyou, jumped back. He landed in front of Kagome and pushed her further back. He snarled at Shamashir and Kagome gasped, seeing what her kidnapper was holding in his right hand. She tugged at the hanyou's right arm's sleeve and he turned only half way to look at her.

"He's got a gun, Inuyasha, be careful." she warned him and he turned his attention back at Shamashir.

"Thank you so much, Kagome." the demon smirked again. "That energy charge was very refreshing."

"But it's not enough, is it?" Inuyasha smirked too and Shamashir frowned. "This makes it easier to kill you – you are still trapped in this mortal body."

"It's much better that your bodies!" Shamashir yelled, startling the hanyou and the girl and confusing them with such an outburst. "You two are just impossible! He was like immune to sleep and you were like immune to nightmares!" he pointed with the gun first at Inuyasha, then at Kagome and continued to look at her. "But to make you kiss first that pathetic hanyou and then that stupid boy was the easiest thing I've ever done!"

At his last words, Kagome's eyes widened and she snapped her head up to look at Inuyasha. He was like frozen, just standing there with his mouth slightly open in surprise. Shamashir laughed at their shocked expressions and that seemed to bring the hanyou back to his senses. He closed his mouth and swallowed hard but did not turn to look at her. She instinctively made a step back, almost tripping in the process.

"You k-kissed me?" Inuyasha stuttered, his voice a little...squeaky, and she hesitantly nodded.

Shamashir sighed loudly, obviously not interested in their reactions anymore and loaded his gun. "I suggest that you talk about this after we finish." he said with amusement in his voice. "You will have more than enough time for that in the other world."

The sharp sound from the gun and the demon's words made Inuyasha turn his attention back to him. With the knowledge that Kagome had kissed him and he had missed it, actually slept through it, he felt like something had hit him in the head very hard. It was almost enough to make him lose his transformation but he somehow managed to hold it. He tried to draw out Tetsusaiga but it wasn't in its scabbard. Remembering that he had dropped it when he had seen Kagome, he started looking around to find it.

Suddenly he heard her scream his name and turning to look at Shamashir, saw that he had pointed his gun at him. A loud shot was heard and Inuyasha barely managed to avoid it. He spun around, caught Kagome around the waist, threw her over his right shoulder and jumped toward the door. She screamed but didn't struggle against him. Shamashir laughed and remained on his place. He raised his hands in front of his face in praying position and started chanting something.

Inuyasha jumped around the different piles with construction materials, toward the door. Kagome had seen his sword and had yelled to him to stop and take it but he didn't listen. He didn't stop until they were at the door, then he let her go and before she could protest he spoke. "I want you to get away from here. Go to Miroku and take one of those ofudas. Make him teach you how to make the spell." he pushed her toward the door.

"Inuyasha, I'm not leaving you!" she tried to push his hands away but he wasn't giving up so easily.

"I said go!" he yelled and holding her for her shoulders gave her a hard shake. "I will hold him down until you come back."

"But..." she started.

"Do you want me to kill him?" Inuyasha asked, but this time his voice was low and dangerously threatening.

"Alright." Kagome nodded and turned to leave. Then they both saw that something like a barrier was forming and was closing the door. Not loosing anymore time, Inuyasha pushed her through and the barrier closed – the door turned into a wall.

"She got away, huh?" Shamashir's voice was heard somewhere from behind him.

"Of course!" Inuyasha snapped and carefully looked around but couldn't see him anywhere. "Why don't you come out? Or maybe I'm just too strong for you?"

"Don't flatter yourself so much." the demon's laughing voice seemed to be coming from every direction and that confused Inuyasha's senses very much. "Although you are really very strong, for a hanyou, your girl's power is what I need."

'Fuck.' Inuyasha cursed in his mind and fisted his hands. 'He's gonna wait for Kagome to come back.' he was right about that – Shamashir's intentions were really to wait for her. 'He saw how powerful she got when she wanted to be with me.'

While Inuyasha was trying to figure out his strategy, Shamashir was looking at the hanyou's sword. He seemed to be very intrigued with it as he crouched next to it and reached to touch it. He took it and expected it to transform like he had saw it do earlier, but it remained the same old and battered sword. Narrowing his eyes, he stood up and swung it but again nothing happened.

'I can clearly feel the youki of this sword. It is really something to behold.' the demon thought and swung Tetsusaiga again. 'I guess I will have to take Inuyasha's energy too...' he smirked and held the sword in front of his face. '...if I want to use this.'

Kagome fell on her butt pretty hard and when she lifted her head to look at the door it was already gone. She stood up and went closet to it to touch the new formed wall. Seeing that there was no point in staying there and practically wasting her time for nothing, she quietly apologized to Inuyasha for leaving him and ran away. She didn't stop running almost the whole way to her home. When she got to the well, she immediately jumped in. Exiting it she found herself face to face with her four friends.

They all greeted her and helped her get out of the well. Once on the ground she hurriedly explained what had happened and Miroku gave her the needed ofuda. He explained her how to make the spell and after thanking him she jumped back in the well, leaving them to stare after her with worried eyes. Shippo and Sango were obviously very depressed and the monk and Kirara did everything to keep their minds off of the problem – the small cat demon took the kitsune to play and Miroku, well he groped the demon exterminator, earning himself a several bumps on the head.

'I lost an hour already?' Kagome asked herself as she looked at her wristwatch. She was at the beginning of the park, taking a small break. Her breathing was heavy and sharp and people were looking at her oddly but she didn't care. 'I have to get to Inuyasha fast...' she thought and started walking, not able to run at the moment.

At the hangar, the hanyou still hadn't found Shamashir. He had gone to take his sword but hadn't found it. Now he knew that the demon would probably try to take his energy too, to be able to make Tetsusaiga transform. He had to be more careful than ever. The hangar was big and there were more than enough places to hide but Inuyasha didn't even think about something like that.

"Come on, Shashir..." he yelled and readied himself for an attack, but nothing happened. "Come out and fight..."

"I told Kagome, I'm telling you too – my name is Shamashir." the demon's voice was heard, again from every direction.

"And what kind of a name is that?" Inuyasha laughed. "My brother's name is better than that! How was it again? Shishir? Shashir?"

"Shamashir!" he hissed – clearly the pathetic hanyou had found something to make him angry with. "Don't make fun with it..."

"Or what?" Inuyasha snapped. "It's not only your name that's stupid. I haven't seen a weaker dream demon than you."

It seemed that Shamashir was trying to avoid conversations about himself, as he tried to change the subject. "To tell you the truth, it was really easy to possess you. The only problem came with that trance you fell into. But the most interesting thing is Kagome's powers. She has so much..."

"That's because she's a Miko, you idiot!" Inuyasha suddenly yelled just behind him, startling him. "And I fell in that trance because I've already been possessed by a dream demon." he continued when the demon turned to look at him in surprise and cracked his fingers. "God, how did you survive until now?"

Shamashir almost dropped Tetsusaiga and made a step back, stumbling and almost falling. How had he found him? Actually the reason wasn't hard to figure out – he had just underestimated the hanyou he was very soon going to fight with. Not wasting time in pointless talking he raised his gun and fired at Inuyasha. Of course, he managed to avoid the bulled, expecting him to do that and jumped aside.

"No, you're not getting away!" Shamashir yelled and threw Tetsusaiga at Inuyasha while he was in midair. Then while the hanyou avoided being stabbed by his own sword, the demon fired again and this time didn't miss. He laughed when Inuyasha yelped in pain and fell on the ground, holding his stomach.

TBC


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Inuyasha lied on the ground, holding tightly his stomach trying to stop the bleeding. Although he seemed to be in a lot of pain, Shamashir knew better than to go too close to him. He checked how many bullets he had in his gun – only two. He frowned, not seeing a way out from the current situation – he could finish Inuyasha with the remaining ammo but then he wouldn't be able to take his energy to use Tetsusaiga. The other option was that he hurt him enough only to keep him unable to fight but there was another problem – he didn't know what kind of injury would affect the hanyou the most.

While Shamashir was lost in his thoughts, Inuyasha managed to get a grip on himself but it definitely wasn't easy. The pain was like noting he had ever felt before, and he couldn't believe that something so small as that bullet could hurt him so much. Although he was in his hanyou form, he knew that he still wasn't at his full strength and that was causing him to fall only from a funny weapon like that gun.

As Shamashir finally seemed to come up with a decision, he walked toward Inuyasha and stopped just two or three meters away from him. The hanyou slowly opened one eye only to see the demon walk behind him. He desperately tried to get up but the loss of blood and the pain seemed to paralyze him, and he managed to lift himself only a little. The next thing he knew was that Shamashir was firing again. The two new shots echoed in the hangar and Inuyasha fell on the ground with two new wounds in his back.

Kagome was running through the park again. She was so tired that her vision was getting blurry but she just kept going. The sun was setting and the fear that many, let's say suspicious individuals were gathering in the park during the night, made her run even faster. Finally she reached the exit and stopped to catch her breath.

'Hang on, Inuyasha.' she didn't know why she thought that but she did and clutched the ofuda in her right hand tighter. She looked toward the hangars that could be seen in the distance and shivered. A strange feeling of danger rose in her chest and she straightened up. 'You better be alright, Inuyasha...' she threatened and ran again.

After about fifteen minutes Kagome was in front of the hangar. She looked at where the door used to be. She placed her hands on the wall that was now there and pushed, but nothing happened. Growling in frustration she kicked it and yelled Inuyasha's name. Suddenly the wall disappeared and the door appeared, startling her and she made a few steps back.

'This is not good.' she repeated several times in her mind. 'He is letting me in just like that? No, he's definitely up to something...' she took a deep breath and went through the door. The moment she was in, the wall appeared again and cut her way out again.

Shamashir was crouching next to the hanyou's unmoving form, with Tetsusaiga in his right hand. He sighed in annoyance and pocked Inuyasha in the back with the sword. He didn't move, didn't even make a sound and the demon frowned. He knew that he hadn't killed him and the lack of activity from the hanyou was starting to worry him. He either was unconscious and maybe dying, or he was pretending, trying to save his strength until Kagome comes back.

Tired and irritated of just watching Inuyasha practically play with him, Shamashir stood up and walked a little aside. Then he felt her. A satisfied grin formed on his lips and he closed his eyes, starting to chant something. When he was ready, he turned to the hanyou and walked back to him. This time he kicked him hard in his right side and Inuyasha couldn't suppress the pained groan that escaped from his mouth.

"Kagome is here, I let her in." Shamashir said calmly and the hanyou stiffened. "I hope you will enjoy the show." he added and walked away.

"Inuyasha..." the girl whispered, not brave enough to move away from the already gone door. When he didn't answer and didn't come to her, she took a deep calming breath and made a step forward. "Inuyasha..." she called him again, this time a little louder.

"He can't come to you." Shamashir's voice was heard from her left side and with a surprised gasp, Kagome turned toward him.

"Where is Inuyasha?" she hissed at him, suddenly forgetting her fear and getting angry because of what he could've done to the hanyou.

"Oh, he's dying somewhere around." the demon said amusingly and started walking toward her.

Although his words were a real shock for her, Kagome quickly gathered her thoughts and yelled at him to stay back. "You are lying! Inuyasha can't be dying..." she snapped at him, making a few steps back.

"Well, you may be right about that." Shamashir laughed and she looked at him a little confused. "He pretends very well. That dog is the best actor I've ever seen. You definitely are a good tamer." he laughed again when he saw the anger in Kagome's eyes.

"Don't talk like that about Inuyasha!" she yelled and stepped toward the demon. "He is not a dog! He is not an animal to be tamed!"

"Yes, he is." at those words she suddenly found herself face to face with Shamashir.

Seeing that he had tricked her into letting her guard down, she tried to back away but he held her shoulders. No matter how hard she struggled to get free, she just couldn't. Finally, feeling somehow tired, Kagome stopped moving and slowly her look was like drawn to Shamashir's eyes. She couldn't break the eye contact, she couldn't move, she couldn't even speak anymore.

"The moon is up..." Shamashir smirked. "Now I can take your energy..."

Slowly he leaned toward her and she unconsciously parted her lips – it was like some unexplainable force was making her do that. He didn't kiss her, like she expected him to do; he just stayed close to her. Suddenly Kagome felt a sharp pain in her chest – like something was being pulled out of her. She tried to scream but no sound came out of her mouth. She started to feel weak and dizzy and tears ran down her cheeks. Then something shook her and she fell on the ground.

"I'm gonna kill you, you fucking son of a bitch!" she heard Inuyasha yell as she started to come back t her senses. "You should've lived another few hundred years to only start thinking of messing with me..." Inuyasha had his sword again and had pointed it at Shamashir. The demon was lying on the ground on his back and was looking at the hanyou in disbelief.

"Wait! You can't kill me!" the demon's voice sounded almost scared.

"And why the hell not?" Inuyasha growled at him.

"Because the boy will die too." Shamashir threatened.

"Do you think I fucking care about that?" the hanyou was obviously enraged and even allowed himself a slight smirk, and the demon gulped.

A weak moan was heard from behind Inuyasha, as Kagome tried to sit up. Shamashir hoped that that would distract the hanyou enough for him to escape and that's what exactly happened.

"Are you alright, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, turning his head half way to look at her.

"I think so..." the girl mumbled, holding her head while she stood up and slowly walked toward him.

Finding this to be a good opportunity to escape, Shamashir pushed Tetsusaiga aside and stood up to run away. The moment he turned his back on Inuyasha, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, as the hanyou hit him with the dull side of his sword. The demon stumbled and fell unconscious on the ground, and Inuyasha sheathed his sword. Then, not wasting time like the last time, he walked to Kagome.

"Did you get the ofuda?" he asked.

"Y-Yes..." she stuttered, still a little dizzy, and showed him the rather creasy piece of paper.

"Hurry up and make the spell before he wakes up." the hanyou said, dragging her toward the unconscious demon.

Kagome listened to him and did the spell as Miroku had explained to her – she placed the ofuda on Kai's forehead and started chanting something. A strong pulse ran through the boy's body and as the ofuda turned to dust and faded away, a loud and pained scream was heard.

"Is that all?" Inuyasha asked incredulously. "I had to stay with that thing..."

"Miroku-sama said that it's different with humans." Kagome explained and just when she was turning toward him, Kai groaned and started to wake up.

"Shit!" the hanyou cursed and looked around for a place to hide. He jumped toward the pile of sacks with cement and hid behind them.

"Kai... Wake up." Kagome said and shook him lightly when she was sure that Inuyasha was gone.

The boy slowly started to come to conscious, he opened his eyes and she helped him sit up. He rubbed the back of his head and winced in pain. "Kagome?" he looked confused at her and then noticing the unfamiliar place he was, he started to panic.

"Calm down, Kai." the girl said and placed her hands on his shoulders. "It's ok, you're safe now."

"B-But what h-happened?" he stammered, highly confused.

"What is the last thing you remember?" she asked, eyeing him carefully.

"I... I was going to the school and then there was that guy with a gun..." he trailed off as he couldn't remember anything else.

"The local street band kidnapped you. But me and my boyfriend saw them and Inuyasha chased them away." the girl quickly explained and saw Kai get even more confused, then he frowned. "What is it?"

"Your face..." he pointed the bruise on her cheek. "A-And your neck..."

"Don't worry." she smiled and stood up, helping him get up too. "I got in the way. Stupid of me, isn't it?"

"Where is your boyfriend?" Kai started to look around. "I want to thank him..."

"Um, h-he..." the girl nervously tried to think of an excuse for Inuyasha's disappearance. "He went out to be sure that those idiots won't come back."

"He must be very strong, right?" the boy asked while he and Kagome walked toward the door.

"Yeah, he is." she said smiling and when they were out she turned to him. "Inuyasha said we should go home when you wake up."

"But what about him?" Kai asked highly concerned. "We can't just leave him..."

"Yes, we can." Kagome said firmly and dragged the boy away. "Otherwise he'll get really angry – we may be still in danger if we stay here."

Kai reluctantly agreed and they both walked away. He went with Kagome to her house and then she called a taxi for him. Before leaving she explained him that there was sill a chance for him to stay in Tokyo but there were definitely not going to be anymore kisses between them. Smiling, he agreed and promised that he would come in the morning to see if everything was alright.

Inuyasha waited for Kagome and that Kai to go away and stood up. The movement was too sudden for his injures and he fell on his knees on the ground, hissing in pain. After a while he managed to take control over his aching body and slowly stood up. He walked toward the door and out of the hangar and followed Kagome's scent, as his vision started to get blurry. All the way toward the Higurashi shrine he prayed that he didn't turn into human again – he definitely wasn't going to live through those wounds if he did.

Kagome was sitting on the door-still, waiting for him. A whole hour had passed and she was extremely worried. She had considered going to find him but in the dark she would just get into more trouble. Finally a dark shadow appeared on the stairs. At first, when she saw that it was him, she was happy because he was alright but then she saw that he was a little wobbly and was holding his stomach. Her fears came true as when he saw her he slumped on the ground unconscious.

TBC


	20. Chapter Twenty

Inuyasha woke up in a dark room that he couldn't seem to recognize. He could sense that someone was near him but not being able to say who it was made him stiffen – he was human again. As he completely shook out of the unconsciousness he was aware of the bitter taste of blood in his mouth. He licked his dry lips and tried to move to sit up, but pain shot through his whole body and he groaned loudly.

Someone ran to him and two hands were placed on his chest to keep him from moving. As he started to calm down and get a hold on himself, he managed to make out Kagome's worried face leaning closer to him. She was saying something but he couldn't really understand it – the words sounded twisted and incoherent. Finally giving up torturing his already tired mind, he closed his eyes and tried to relax.

After about half an hour Inuyasha opened his eyes again. This time he could see well enough to tell that he was in Kagome's room and was lying on her bed. He turned his head toward the desk and saw her sitting on the chair. Her body was relaxed, her hands in her lap, her head tilted to the side and her eyes closed – she was definitely asleep. Clearing his throat, he tried to call her but his voice came out just barely louder than a whisper.

"Kagome…" he tried again a while later, not daring to move himself yet.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked around a little disoriented. When her eyes landed on Inuyasha she immediately ran to his side and kneeled on the floor, by the bed. She removed the already dry cloth from his forehead and replaced it with a wet one, then she removed the sheet that was covering him and frowned at the bloody bandages on his stomach and chest.

"Kagome…" he repeated and she startled, falling back on her behind. Obviously, she hadn't noticed that he was awake because of the dark.

"God, Inuyasha, don't scare me like that!" she said and again took her previous place. He tried to say something but started coughing and blood appeared on the corners of his mouth. "No, no, don't talk!" Kagome shushed him with a hand on his mouth and not being able to see the blood there, she felt it on her fingers. "Oh, God…" she started repeating as she tried to find something to clean him.

"I'm fine…" the hanyou tried to calm her down but with no success. "Kagome… I'm…" and another coughing fit fallowed, making the girl even more panicked.

The moon light that was coming through the window was the only thing that lightened up the room, and actually only a part of it – Kagome's desk and her chair. She finally found a clean cloth and returned to Inuyasha. After cleaning the blood from his mouth she noticed that he was again unconscious.

"What am I going to do now?" she asked herself aloud and bit her bottom lip. "There's no electricity, Mama and Jii-chan aren't here… Souta can't help me… Good that he's sleeping – he shouldn't be seeing such things…" as she was mumbling to herself Inuyasha woke up again.

"Stop talking to yourself…" he whispered and she snapped her head up, gasping in surprise to see him hanyou again. "I transformed back to normal, didn't I?" he asked and she nodded.

"Back in the hangar…" she started, her voice shaking, and the hanyou looked at her a little confused. "I didn't see that you were hurt…" her voice almost broke and she bit her lips to stop herself from crying, but the tears just ran down her cheeks.

"No, no, Kagome…" Inuyasha tried to sit up but only succeeded to turn himself toward her. He reached with his left hand toward her and placed it on the side of her face, wiping her tears with his thumb. "Don't do that, please… It doesn't matter that you didn't notice. I'm alright now and that's what is important, right?"

"R-Right…" the girl hiccupped and placed her hand over his, wiping her tears with the other. "You're not mad at me?"

"For that – no." he said, adding a small smile, but then frowned and she looked at him almost scared. "But I am mad about you kissing that stupid human brat."

"Hey!" the girl protested, her face turning bright red from embarrassment. "Shashir made me!"

"Wasn't his name Sasir?" Inuyasha furrowed his brows, trying to remember but with no success.

"No, I don't think so…" Kagome shook her head and thought for a while.

"Well, it definitely was a stupid name." the hanyou said and tried to sit up but she pushed him back down. "Kagome!" he threatened but that didn't seem to matter to her.

"Hanyou or not, you still need rest." she said firmly. "What if you turn back to human, huh?" at that he stayed quiet and let her fix his bandages.

While Kagome was changing his bandages he hadn't made even a sound but she expected that from him – after all it wasn't often to see Inuyasha admit that he was in pain. It took her a lot more time to finish re-bandaging him than usually, due to the dark, but when she was finally ready she saw that Inuyasha had closed his eyes and his breathing had evened. Thinking that he was asleep she quietly gathered her things and walked toward the door.

"Kagome," his voice startled her and she almost dropped everything on the floor.

"Inuyasha, I thought you were asleep!" she said a little breathlessly and he propped himself up on his elbows.

"Where are you going?" he asked worriedly.

"To get rid of this…" she showed him the bloody bandages. "Lay back down, I'll be back in a minute." he listened to her and she exited the room.

Inuyasha waited for her to return but she didn't. He looked at the alarm clock next to the bed and frowned, making a mental note to make Kagome teach him how to use it. His senses were slowly coming back and they were strong enough for him to tell that she was at least still in the house. He also noticed that Souta was at home, but her mother and grandfather weren't. Finally he heard footsteps and after a minute the door opened and Kagome entered the room, carrying something that he couldn't make out, but suddenly he smelled it and involuntary grinned.

"I brought you ramen." she said and sat on the bed next to him. "There's no power, so it's a little cold but…"

"I'll eat it." Inuyasha hurried to say and saw her smile.

Kagome made him sit up and after placing a few more pillows behind him, made him lay back down. He tried not to hiss in pain at the slightest movement but it was obvious to her and she smirked, an interesting idea popping up in her mind. 'I wish I had batteries for my flashlight to see his face.' she laughed to herself and the hanyou eyed her suspiciously, as if knowing what she had in mind.

"Now, Inuyasha, I'll have to feed you." she said and barely held back her laughter at the strangled sound that he made from surprise.

"What?!" he almost squeaked. "No way!"

"Come on, don't be stubborn." the girl said firmly and narrowed her eyes at him.

"I can do it myself, I'm not that hurt!" he protested again and tried to grab the cup of ramen from her hands but she was faster. "Kagome!"

"Stay still, your bandages are going to loosen and your wounds will open again." she said, despite the tone he used – he said her name as if she was his mortal enemy. "If you don't let me feed you, you won't eat at all. I prefer to keep you hungry for a day than see those wounds bleed again."

A heavy and uncomfortable silence followed and nobody wished to speak. They glared at each other for a while and Kagome 'humph'ed and turned her head aside. Seeing that she wasn't going to give up and that she was actually right, Inuyasha decided to make a compromise but just this one time.

"Alright." he said and she turned toward him smiling. He suddenly felt tricked, like always when she was involved, but sighed and didn't say anything. He wasn't really that mad when he had to do things her way, it was just something like an inner instinct to refuse everything and everybody.

"There's no more." Kagome said when they were ready and placed the empty cup on the floor, next to the bed. "Are you still hungry?" she asked and he shook his head.

"Why are you and Souta alone?" Inuyasha asked after a while.

"Uncle Toshi is sick, Mama and Jii-chan went to see him." she explained. Then she seemed to remember something. "Inuyasha, you remember when you wanted to talk about what you talked with Kikyou? Before you passed out…"

"No." he said quickly and saw Kagome frown.

"Yes, you do." she said calmly and leaned closer to him. "Why don't you tell me now?"

"I don't want to." he snapped, sounding more like a little child than an angry man.

"But why? We are alone, nobody will disturb us. Please?" she said sweetly and gave him a smile.

"I don't want to talk about it." Inuyasha insisted and looked away. "Every time I try to tell you, something happens that prevents me from doing it."

"It won't be like that this time." she also didn't give up. "You said that you talked about me. Don't I have the right to know?"

"Well, you do…" the hanyou started hesitantly. "…but you see… It's not about you only. It's about me too, about both of us."

"That's even a better reason for you to tell me!" Kagome suddenly felt very thrilled to learn what he had to tell her and sat closer to him.

"O-ok. But…what if your brother hears us?" the hanyou asked quietly.

"No, don't worry." Kagome assured him. "He was in his room when I went to take the ramen. Now he's probably…"

"Kagome-nee-chan…" the boy's voice was heard and the door slowly slid open.

"Souta, why aren't you in bed?" she asked angrily, as his head appeared, and tried to get up but suddenly Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her waist and held her down. She screamed from surprise and felt the hanyou's face pressed at the right side of her stomach.

"Nee-chan, what are you doing?" Souta asked highly confused.

"Nothing!" Kagome squeaked and then, after clearing her throat a few times, spoke again. "Inuyasha is hurt…and he's holding on me…'cause he's in pain."

"Really?!" the boy's eyes widened in concern and he ran to his sister and the hanyou. "Inu-nonii-chan, you're not gonna die, right?"

"No, he's not gonna die, Souta." Kagome rolled her eyes and placing her hands on his shoulders, pushed him slightly back. "He's going to be alright, so why don't you go to your room?"

"But I want to stay with him!" the boy pleaded but his sister wasn't one to be argued with.

"You heard me." she said firmly. "Go to sleep."

"Ok." Souta sighed and walked out.

After they were left alone again, Kagome tried to move away from Inuyasha but he was holding her too tight. She tried to make him let go of her but he just kept shaking his head and refused to listen to her. Then with worry she noticed that his hear was starting to turn back. Just then she remembered that his powers were still unstable and it seemed that the more emotional he got the more energy he was losing and bit her bottom lip. But that still didn't explain his reaction when she tried to stand up.

"Inuyasha, stop it, please." she said, trying to sound calm. "You're scaring me…" at that he suddenly released her and sat up. His eyes were wide with confusion and she looked at him even more concerned. "Inuyasha?"

"This is insane!" he said and placed his hands on both sides of his head. "I just wanted to tell you to stay and…and you saw what happened! My whole brain is fucked up!"

"No, it's not." Kagome reached with her hands toward him and removed his from his head. "You're just…sick and tired…and well, your brain may really be 'fucked up', but not permanently."

"You promise?" he surprised her with such a question and she nodded at him, smiling.

"Now, lay back down." she said and he listened to her.

"I warned you that when I try to tell you something happens and I can't." Inuyasha mumbled while shifting into a more comfortable position and she smiled weakly. "I've tried to talk with you at least ten times!"

"I know, I know…" Kagome sighed and placed one hand on his left cheek. "When you get better, we'll go somewhere where we can be left alone and then we'll talk. I just wish you could give me a hint…"

Inuyasha stayed silent for a while, thinking of a hint. She had meant it as a joke but obviously he hadn't understood it that way and she noticed that. Just when she was about to explain to him that he didn't actually need to ruin the surprise, he spoke. His logic was that as long as he didn't say something like 'Kagome, I love you,' nothing too bad could happen. So, he made his decision and prepared to act on it.

"Did you like it when you kissed me?" he asked his question so fast that she almost didn't hear him.

She tried to respond but just couldn't seem to find her voice to speak. Inuyasha propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her curiously. Kagome stared in his eyes, unbelieving and shocked. When did Inuyasha become so brave to ask questions like that? Well, he wasn't that brave actually, because as his face closed to her she saw that his cheeks were slightly red. That seemed to give her courage and she finally found strength to speak.

"I… Y-Yes…" she said quietly and looked down.

"Do you want to kiss me again?" he asked another unexpected question and she snapped her look up at him.

Without saying anything else he leaned closer to her. As his lips came in contact with hers, just slightly touching, his eyes slowly closed. She took a few heavy breaths and felt his lips on hers. Her eyes also slowly closed and she felt him press herder. Just when they were actually going to kiss the whole house started shaking. They both startled and pulled away from each other.

"Earthquake!" Souta's voice was heard from outside and the door opened.

The boy stood under the door-case and motioned to his sister to come to him. Kagome stood up and helped Inuyasha up too. Tetsusaiga was lying on the inner side of the bed and the hanyou took it with him. They went to Souta and stayed with him. Inuyasha was barely holding on his legs, leaning on Kagome and supporting himself with the sword.

The earthquake lasted for about three or four minutes and when it was over everything in the room was a complete mess. As if fate was making fun of the situation the lights turned on to show them how the house looked like.

"Souta, are you alright?" Kagome asked her brother and reached toward him with her free right hand, the left one around Inuyasha's waist to support him.

"Nee-chan, why is Inu-nonii-chan's hair black?" he asked, instead of answering her question and she looked at the hanyou.

"Inuyasha?" she said and shook him a little when he didn't answer her, causing his heavy breathing to become a bit shallow. "Inuyasha what's wrong?" Kagome asked and he slid on the ground on his knees, dropping Tetsusaiga and holding his stomach and chest and starting to cough.

"Nee-chan…" Souta looked scared at his sister as she kneeled in front of the hanyou and tried to see his face.

TBC


	21. Chapter TwentyOne

Kagome tried to push Inuyasha back to see him better but he didn't allow her. It was obvious that he was in pain but he was also too stubborn to listen to her even in a dangerous situation like that. His breathing was becoming shallower and he started making a strange sharp sound in his throat. Suddenly, his whole hair became black, it was like a wave starting from the top and reaching the end.

"Nee-chan!" Souta pointed at the hanyou with his right hand and the other brought to his mouth to bite his nails. "Do something!" he was on the brink of crying.

"Calm down, Souta…" Kagome said without turning to look at him and again tried to push Inuyasha back. "Come on!"

The hanyou heard her and her brother but their voices seemed too loud and painful for his ears and he tried to ignore them, without even thinking of listening to what they were saying. The whole excitement of trying to tell Kagome how he felt and the attempt to kiss her, then the earthquake had said its word. When the house had stopped shaking he had noticed that he was turning human but thought that he was well enough to hold on.

Then suddenly he felt unbelievable pain in his whole body. It spread everywhere and he felt like something was crushing his chest. That showed that his body was already human and it left only his claws, ears, fangs and eyes to change. The moment his hair turned black and his breathing changed, Kagome knew that things weren't looking good.

The problem was that she had absolutely no idea of what to do, and on top of everything Souta was panicking next to her. As she again tried to calm him down Inuyasha doubled over and started coughing. He couldn't take a proper breath and the sharp sound in his throat worsened. Kagome leaned toward him and removed his hair away from his face only to see him start coughing blood.

"Oh my God!" she startled and pulled away.

As she stood up, frantically looking around for… even she didn't know what, but she just had to do something to help, she saw that the bandages were getting bloody again. For Inuyasha's human body three shots from a gun were something he didn't seem to be able to live through right now. The wounds that the bullets had made on his back and chest were bleeding the most.

Suddenly Kagome's eyes landed on Tetsusaiga. The sword was lying next to Inuyasha. An idea ran through her mind and her eyes widened. She looked at him and saw that his claws were still there. Running to Souta, who had started crying, she grabbed the sword and giving it to him made him go to her bed and stay in the farthest corner. Then she kneeled in front of Inuyasha and placing her hands on his shoulders tried to push him up a little.

"Inuyasha, do you hear me?" she asked but he didn't answer her, and to be honest he couldn't. "Inuyasha, release your demon blood. Don't fight it…" as she was saying he suddenly swing his left hand and pushed her back with a growl.

Not wasting time, Kagome stood up and ran to her brother. She stood on her bed, in front of him, and they both looked at Inuyasha. Although Souta had only heard about the hanyou's demon transformation form his sister, he knew that this was what was going to happen. Kagome had warned him that in this state of transformation Inuyasha was nothing but a mindless beast that wanted to kill and destroy everything on its way.

"Don't worry, Souta, everything is going to be alright." Kagome tried to calm the boy, who she could feel shaking behind her.

Inuyasha didn't stop coughing – it looked like he was going to drown in his own blood. He doubled over so much that his forehead touched the floor. Whenever he managed to take a breath it didn't look like he was taking enough air. Finally he couldn't cough anymore because of the lack of air and only the sharp sound of his tries to breathe could be heard.

Now Kagome was also crying – watching him dying was something that she had never thought she would see. Inuyasha was invincible; she found herself thinking and looked at Souta. She was sounding just like him, but that was the truth. Her hanyou had lived through so many deadly situations since she had met him and she could only imagine how many more he had suffered in his life.

The hanyou made one last attempt to take a breath and fell on his right side, then rolled on his back. His mouth was slightly open, his eyes were wide. Several trickles of blood were visible on his chin and cheeks, and his whole chest was covered with blood. His right arm was on his stomach and the left one on the floor. Souta made a quiet whimpering sound and Kagome hugged him to keep him from watching.

'No…' she thought and cried. 'It was too late… No…' she was ready to go to him and cry her self to unconsciousness but then she was startled from the sharp sound of his claws lengthening.

Hers and Souta's eyes widened and they saw Inuyasha's fangs become longer, his hair – white, his human ears moved on top of his head, turning into dog ones, and two purple marks appeared on his cheeks. His chest filled with air as he made a deep breath and his eyes started turning red. Suddenly he jumped up and whirled around to face the two humans on the bed.

Kagome and Souta were too startled to react at first and actually were really lucky that the hanyou was feeling a little dizzy and didn't attack them right away. He glared at them and growled. Souta clutched at his sister's shirt and Kagome gulped. How were they supposed to turn him back to his hanyou form? They sure couldn't give him Tetsusaiga just like that…

"Wait a minute!" Kagome exclaimed and wanted to smack her head in the wall for her stupidity. Instead of doing that to herself she did it to the mindless hanyou in front of her. "Inuyasha, sit!" she screamed and he crashed on the floor. She grabbed the sword from Souta, ran to the hanyou and placed it next to him.

The girl kneeled next to him and rolled him on his back. He groaned but didn't open his eyes. The slight opening of his mouth showed her that his fangs were back to normal length, but the disappearance of his purple marks were enough proof that he was in his hanyou form again. Sighing in relief she sat back and relaxed. Seeing that, Souta also calmed down and slid down on the bed.

"That was close…" the girl mumbled and reached with her right hand to remove a few strands of hair from Inuyasha's face.

"Are all demons so scary?" Souta asked a little shakily and Kagome just nodded, not moving her look away from the hanyou. "I don't want to come to the past anymore." the boy stated.

"Finally something clever from you." his sister joked and he stuck his tongue out at her.

It was around nine o'clock in the morning. Inuyasha was soundly snorting on Kagome's bed, his face in her pillow. He was alone in the room, which was already cleaned from the mess that he and the earthquake had made. His back and chest were cleaned from the blood and there wasn't even a scar from the wounds. Only his hair had a little blood but we could forgive Kagome for that, right?

The girl and her brother were downstairs, in the kitchen. They were just finishing cleaning the house. It was pure luck that there were no broken dishes. Kagome sat heavily on a chair by the table and sighed in exhaustion. Souta stretched sleepily and yawned, then sighing he also sat on a chair. His sister looked at him and smiled but he just made a sad expression.

"Alright, Souta." she shook her head. "Don't go to school today. I'll talk with Mama."

"Thanks, Nee-chan!" the boy smiled and stood up. "I'm going to bed now!" he said and was off to his room. Of course he wasn't going to sleep and Kagome knew that – probably he would be playing video games or something.

She sat in the kitchen for a while and just when she was going to go and check on Inuyasha, the prone rang. "This is Kagome Higurashi, hello?" she said sleepily.

"Kagome, dear!" the highly concerned voice of her mother was heard. "Are you alright? How is Souta?"

"Calm down, Mama." the girl said and smiled. "We're alright."

"I was so worried!" the woman exclaimed and sighed in relief. "When we heard about the earthquake and when we couldn't reach you…" listening to her voice, it was obvious that she was barely holding back her tears.

"We had no electricity and phone for a while tonight." Kagome explained and got an idea of how to calm her mother down. "Besides, Inuyasha was with us. You know that he would do anything to protect us."

"Yes, dear, you're right." Mrs. Higurashi said and sighed again. "Where is Souta? Can I hear him?"

"He went to bed… But I can call him…" the girl was about to yell but her mother stopped her.

"No, no, don't bother him." the woman said. "We are coming back this afternoon. Say hi to Inuyasha from us and take care, ok?"

"Ok, bye." Kagome smiled.

"Bye." Mrs. Higurashi said and both hung up the phones.

Happy and relieved that everything was alright, Kagome went upstairs. When she entered her room, she found Inuyasha still asleep. His head and left hand were hanging from the bed and she hurried to push him up. That of course startled him and he woke up. He sat up with a start and hit his head and back in the wall behind him. Busy to groan and to rub the back of his head, he missed to see how Kagome practically jumped on him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Inuyasha!" she cried and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

The hanyou was too dizzy to understand what was happening and that gave Kagome enough time to start crying even more. When he finally came back to his senses he could feel the wetness from her tears on his shoulder. At first he didn't know what to do – he just couldn't remember to have done something worth crying. Well, Kagome could cry for almost everything and he agreed with that, but that made his task even more difficult.

"Kagome…" he started quietly but was cut off when she tightened her hold on him. He didn't speak again, just held his hands up and wrapped them around her.

Finally, about ten minutes later, she stopped crying and only her quiet hiccupping could be heard. Inuyasha had already gathered his thoughts and had remembered what had happened with them the previous night – the smell of blood on him helped him. There was just one problem – he remembered the earthquake but after that his memories were like cut off with a knife.

He frowned and tried to think of what could have happened. Suddenly his eyes widened and he stiffened – after the earthquake he was in pain from his wounds, he dropped Tetsusaiga, Kagome was yelling something at him, Souta was crying… 'Inuyasha, release your demon blood. Don't fight it…' he remembered hearing her. Then there was nothing, his next memories were from this morning with Kagome.

A growl rose in his throat and grabbing the girl in his arms for her shoulders, he pushed her back. She was startled from his reaction and gave him a quiet shriek. She even expected to see him transformed to full demon form and shut her eyes tightly, waiting for whatever was going to happen.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shook her hard to make her open her eyes. "Look at me, Kagome." he demanded and she complied. "I transformed, didn't I?" she just started at him with wide and teary eyes. "Didn't I?" he rose his voice and she nodded, a few tears slipping from her eyes.

"That was the only way, Inuyasha…" the girl cried. "I'm sor…"

"Where is Souta?" he asked, not letting her finish. "Is he ok? Did I do something to you?" so many questions were confusing her and more tears fell from her eyes. "Kagome!" the hanyou demanded but when her shoulders started shaking with held back sobs he seemed to understand what he was doing to her. "I'm sorry, Kagome…" he said a little breathlessly and hugged her tightly.

"You did nothing, Inuyasha…" she cried in his chest.

The two stayed in each other's arms for a while. When they parted Inuyasha got something like an 'embarrassment fit' and didn't even dare to look at Kagome. She rolled her eyes and made him take a bath. Being the stubborn idiot he is, Inuyasha stayed in the bathroom until afternoon when his clothes were finally dry. It was definitely a day for rolling her eyes and they were starting to hurt.

Just when the hanyou was exiting the bathroom, Kagome's mother and grandfather entered the house. Kagome had already talked with her brother not to tell about the last night's adventures but Inuyasha just couldn't help but feel guilty about what he could have done to Mrs. Higurashi's children.

"What's wrong with him, honey?" the woman asked her daughter while they were packing the girl's bag in the kitchen.

"He just misses the other side." Kagome answered and shoved a cup of ramen in the bag.

"Oh, but he knows that this is his home too, right?" Mrs. Higurashi said that more like a statement and she did that loud enough for Inuyasha to hear her.

"Yes, he knows that, Mama." the girl smiled and the packing was done.

Inuyasha helped Kagome get out of the well and placed the large yellow bag on the grass. Although she had thought that once on the other side he would start acting like usually – snappy, egoistic and so on, she was wrong. The hanyou sighed and sat down, leaning his back on the well.

"Aren't we going?" Kagome asked, deciding not to bother him by asking what was wrong with him. "I mean, the others must be…"

"You go." Inuyasha said indifferently.

Kagome sighed and taking her bag, walked toward the trees. By the look he gave her she knew that he actually wanted her to stay but she wasn't going to tolerate such behavior. He should learn to say what he had in mind and she was going to make sure he did that. After making just a few steps, there was a rustling of clothes behind her and someone took her bag.

"So, you're coming?" she smiled at the hanyou, who was still a little grumpy but there definitely was hope.

"Humph." was his only answer and they walked toward the village.

TBC


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo

Inuyasha and Kagome were silently walking toward the village. The hanyou was awfully quiet as he walked beside the schoolgirl. His shoulders were a little hunched over and he had a thoughtful expression on his face. Kagome glanced up at him for a second and if she didn't know him better, she would have thought that her bag was too heavy for him. She frowned – he had something on his mind and it was serious, no doubt about that.

'What should I do? What should I…' Inuyasha repeated in his mind. 'I'm cursed, I know that. Every time I try to tell Kagome that I love her, something bad happens…' he thought miserably and sighed. 'What if I make her say it first?' that idea almost made him smile, but then another thought crossed his mind. 'Damn… I don't even know if she feels the same way. I mean, she sure likes me, but does she love me?'

"Hey, Inuyasha?" the girl on his mind spoke and he startled.

"Wha?" he asked a little breathlessly.

"What were you thinking?" she asked and smiled at him.

"Nothing!" he said and smiled nervously, as if guilty of something.

Not really having what to talk about at the moment, Kagome didn't speak again. She just looked at him with the corner of her eye and saw that the thoughtful expression was back. That sent cold chills down her spine – when had Inuyasha been thoughtful? Only when Kikyou was on his mind… Oh no, not her again!

'Wait a minute!' the hanyou's eyes widened in realization. 'She said she liked it when she kissed me.' he thought happily. 'You don't kiss people just like that if you don't love them… Well, at least I don't do that…'

"Too bad we forgot to wait for Kai." when he heard her say that, he almost tripped.

How could she think about that stupid, weak, ugly human creep?! It was all over with the dream demon and she should have already forgotten about Kai, like she had never seen him. When he thought about him… She had kissed him too. It didn't matter if Shamashir had made her do it – it just pissed Inuyasha off.

"And why would weee want to do that?" the hanyou asked sarcastically and looked her only with the corner of his eye.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Kagome waved a hand dismissively. "He was worried about you too. Show some gratitude, Inuyasha."

"Keh." was his answer, with the intention to not speak anymore.

"I'm sure Mama would think of an excuse…" the girl said and little too carelessly and that did it for Inuyasha.

"Can't we stop talking about that looser?!" he snapped and dropped the bag, as they stopped walking. "Yeah, I know I'm an insensitive jerk! I don't take you on d-d-d-dates, I am not even close to someone you would want to show to your friends…" he stopped only to take a deep breath and then continued with new force. "Souta told me how good you were doing while I…"

A faint rustling was heard from behind Inuyasha and without a second thought he pushed the stunned Kagome behind him. He cursed the wind for not blowing in the direction HE wanted and prepared to attack. A second later, Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kirara came out of the bushes.

"That's right, Inuyasha, first yell at her and then protect her." Miroku teased his friend and he growled.

"I'm glad everything is back to normal." Sango smiled.

"Well, if this could be called normal…" Shippo said and Kirara mewed.

"Watch your own fucking business." Inuyasha snapped and was off in the woods.

Later that day, Kagome and the others were at Kaede's hut. She had explained to them what had happened in her time, and her friends were left in real shock, realizing just how close Inuyasha had been to death. While the girl was telling her story, she just couldn't help but say some 'nice' word about the hanyou, instead of his name. It was good that he hadn't come back yet, don't you think?

It was early evening when Inuyasha decided to return. He entered the hut and not paying attention to the looks his friends were giving him, and especially Kagome's glare, he went in the back of the hut and sat down cross-legged. When he passed by then, they saw only his right side, but when he sat down, they all gasped at the big gash on the left side of his forehead. The whole left side of his face was also in blood.

"What are you staring at?" the hanyou snapped at them.

"God, Inuyasha, what happened to you?" Kagome asked, concern not hidden in her voice, and went to him.

"Humph." he lifted his chin high and refused to look at her.

Ten minutes later his face was cleaned and his forehead bandaged. Everybody had stayed silent until Kagome was ready. She took away the first aid kit and went back to her previous place by the fire. The others gulped, knowing what was coming. Good that Kaede wasn't there – for an old woman like her, fights like Inuyasha and Kagome's were really depressing.

"Can you tell us now what happened?" the girl asked with cold and firm voice, there was not a trace of the concern from a while ago.

"Why do you care, anyway?" Inuyasha asked, completely unshaken, but decided to save himself from a few shouts. "I got distracted and hit a tree. Laugh all you want."

That explanation, of course, made Kagome even angrier. Just when she was going to burst out yelling at the hanyou, Miroku stood up and that caught her and Inuyasha's attention. He glared at each one of them and went first to Kagome, took her right hand and took her outside of the hut. Then, going to Inuyasha, grabbed him by the rosary and despite his protests, dragged him out to Kagome. Sango, Shippo and Kirara decided to stay inside, sure that they would hear what was this all about.

"Listen to me, both of you." Miroku started, his voice dangerously low and threatening, and the two in front of him froze. "I am sick and tired of you… of your impulsive and unnecessary anger, Kagome-sama, and of your impulsive and unexplainable stupidity, Inuyasha." he said and after taking a breath continued. "We all know what you want to say to Kagome-sama, Inuyasha. The whole world must've guessed by now…"

The mention of his 'secret' made the hanyou blush and stiffen even more. Kagome was too stunned to react in any way. She thought that she must be really stupid or thickheaded not to understand what Inuyasha had been trying to tell her. Inside the hut, the others were barely managing to keep themselves from laughing, while Miroku continued to speak.

"…I will leave you here, and don't you dare show yourselves in front of me before you have cleared your relationship." with that, the monk turned his back on them and entered the hut.

"That was really good, Houshi-sama." Sango smiled at him when he sat by the fire.

"You think so?" Miroku grinned at her, his obviously fake anger completely gone.

"You scared even me!" Shippo said and they all chuckled, and waited to hear what the two outside were going to say to each other.

The hanyou and the girl stayed silent for a while. The first to come back to reality was Kagome. She shook her head slightly and cleared her throat. That seemed to make Inuyasha snap out of his shock. He slowly turned his head toward her and waited for her to say something. She walked in front of him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, spit it out." she said, her confidence completely restored.

"W-What?" the hanyou stammered, feeling somehow unsure that this should be the time and place for him to tell her something that important.

"Don't give me this, Inuyasha." Kagome said, sounding really irritated, witch made Inuyasha wince. "Let's get it over with, ok?"

"I h-have n-no idea w-what you are t-talking about." he just couldn't stop stammering and at the same time hoping that she would back off and leave him alone. Considering all the bad things that had happened to him lately, he was sure that this time he was going to die.

On the other hand, Kagome had completely lost her patience and she wanted answers. She wasn't thrilled or excited anymore; she was irritated and annoyed of waiting beyond imagination. Right now she wouldn't care even if the earth opened and swallowed Inuyasha.

"Now, listen to me carefully." she said, a hidden threat in her voice. "You, yourself, said that you had to tell something to me. And, Inuyasha, you can be one thousand percent sure that I am not gonna leave things like this." well, the hanyou didn't know what 'percent' was but be got the main idea of her words. However, her next question really pissed him off. "Why can't you say it like a normal person?"

"Because I am not a normal person, Kagome!" his anger gave him courage to yell at her, and she was left in complete shock from his next words. "I am a pathetic and disgusting hanyou that knows shit about feelings and how to express them. A complete looser and an outsider… You wanna know what I've been trying to tell you? Well, I love you! Happy now?"

Kagome stayed on her place, stunned and unbelieving, while Inuyasha glared at her. He waited for an answer but when she didn't say anything and just continued to stare at him, he started to worry. "Kagome?" he eyed her closely and she seemed to snap out of her trance.

The look she gave him sent cold chills down his spine. It was like she was saying 'Is that all?' Suddenly, he felt like the biggest idiot in the whole world. Not being able to stand her look any longer, the hanyou turned his back on her and walked away. After only a few steps he sighed and sat down on the ground cross-legged, his hands in his lap.

"Houshi-sama, they are too quiet." Sango said a little concerned.

"You are right." the monk nodded and looked toward the door. "It didn't go like we planned."

"Yeah, who would've thought that Inuyasha thinks such stupid things about himself." Shippo said, sounding concerned too.

"We will have to go out and talk some sense into their thick heads, if Kagome-chan doesn't open her mouth soon." the demon exterminator said and Miroku and the small kitsune in her lap nodded.

Inuyasha hung his head down in despair. Why wasn't she saying anything? Why wasn't she yelling, or crying, or even laughing, damnit?! The more time passed, the more depressed the hanyou was becoming. Those five minutes since his rather stupid confession seemed like an eternity for him. Right now he would have gladly died to save himself from this embarrassment.

Kagome stared at his back and didn't dare to move even a finger. She just couldn't believe what he had told her, or maybe because of something else? Actually, after the first few seconds, she accepted it but her own behavior was unbelievably stupid. The man she loved just told her that he loved her too and all she did was stare at him and by doing that she involuntary pushed him away.

As she came back to her senses, his words echoed in her mind: pathetic, disgusting, looser… Her left eye and brow twitched and she fisted her hands in anger. If a few minutes ago she was embarrassed, now she was, by Inuyasha's standards, really pissed off. How dare he talk about himself like that? She was taking this as a personal insult. Gritting her teeth, she walked toward him. Hearing her move, he stiffened and imagine the surprise when she slapped him on the back of his head.

"The hell… What did you do that for?" he yelled and rubbed his head, while she walked in front of him and kneeled on the ground. "W-What?" he asked a little uneasy of the slightly hurt look she gave him.

"Tell me something." Kagome started firmly. "Have I told you that you are disgusting or pathetic?" he didn't answer, just looked aside and dropped his hand in his lap. "No, I haven't, because I like you for what and who you are. And if I ever hear you talk like that, you know what I'll do." she grabbed him by the rosary and pulled him closer to herself.

"What do you care, anyway?" Inuyasha mumbled, still refusing to look at her.

"Will you stop that?!" she almost yelled in his face. "Didn't you hear what I just said? Of course I care! I love you for God's sake!" at her words, the hanyou's eyes widened and his breath seized in his throat. Seeing that he wasn't breathing, Kagome smiled and pulled his rosary slightly. He swallowed hard and blinked a few times. "And here I thought that I was the stupid one. Haven't you really realized how I feel by now?"

Inuyasha shook his head slightly and swallowed again. The others had come out of the hut and were now standing by the door. There was no way that they were going to miss something that important. Kagome placed her hands at both sides of Inuyasha's head and leaned even closer toward him. He worriedly looked first at her hands and then their eyes met.

"Now, be a man and say it again." Kagome said seriously.

Inuyasha looked at her for a second or two and smiled. That was absolutely unexpected reaction, but it made the girl in front of him really happy. "I love you, Kagome." he said and a few tears slipped from her eyes.

"Aren't you going to kiss me now?" she asked, her voice a little shaky.

"Hell yeah!" despite the light blush on his cheeks and the others watching them, the hanyou grinned and leaned toward her, kissing her as deep and as passionate as he was capable of.

THE END


End file.
